A Change in Policies
by Kasai no Kage
Summary: "You realise, Sub Vicereine, that that would mean becoming Empress?"   A seed had been planted. All it needed now was a nourishing soil and water to support its growth.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own anything from Code Geass, merely enjoy putting the characters in different scenarios.

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><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 1

It was just a phone call. A sister seeking approval from an elder sibling about a decision she'd made on her own. One that went against the flow.

"So what do you think?" the princess asked solemnly, aware of her sister's dislike for Numbers.

"None may question a princess' decision to appoint her knights. As Vicereine, I have no right to object" Cornelia replied.

While she didn't voice it outright, Cornelia's disapproval of the situation was clear. Euphie couldn't quite come to terms with why. Suzaku was excellent at everything he did, against all odds.

"Kururugi Suzaku may be an Honorary Britannian, but his strength makes him well suited to knighthood. Sister, don't you –"

"Vicereine" Cornelia interrupted, her voice firm. Euphemia understood from the tone that this was no longer a call between sisters. It was one between a commander and their subordinate.

"Don't you think so too, Vicereine?" she asked, adjusting her own voice and posture the match the new direction of the conversation.

"It is Britannia's policy to keep the Numbers in their place."

Euphy narrowed her gaze at the screen.

"Then I will change that policy" she replied determinedly.

"You understand, Sub Vicereine, that that would mean becoming Empress?"

It planted a seed. All it needed now was a nourishing soil and water to support its growth.

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><p>Euphie was concerned. The man in charge of her greeting party was in the process of informing her where it was she'd be meeting the VIP on Shikine Island when he got a call from someone. He'd quickly returned to the jeep so other soldiers could be appraised of the issue without being overheard by her entourage.<p>

"It would seem that someone is attacking our headquarters" he informed her, as the soldiers began to mobilise.

Euphie gasped. Why would they be attacking the base?

"Let's go back to the settlement" Cecile said quietly to those around her. In a louder voice, she asked "are our escorts ready?"

"It may be dangerous to go back" replied the man in charge. "They're jamming us pretty heavily."

"Don't worry" Suzaku said, noticing the increasing look of worry on her face. "I will protect you, Princess Euphemia."

Euphie hardened her look. "No" she said. "You should help out at the base." She was not about the let one of the best pilots walk away from a battle to protect her. Suzaku made a noise and was about to protest when the man in charge spoke again.

"Sub Vicereine, he's an Honorary Britannian." His statement gave him the full attention of everyone present. "It is highly likely that our enemy is the Order of the Black Knights. If the Lancelot were to fall into their hands…"

Euphemia had a frown on her face and was about to reprimand the man, but Count Asplund beat her to it.

"Um…" he started. "You do know what you're saying is casting aspersions on the Princess?"

The man's face formed an expression of shock. "No, that was not my intention" he said in a small voice.

Suzaku turned to face his princess. "Kururugi Suzaku," she started in traditional Japanese fashion. "Show them your strength. If you prove yourself worthy, people's concerns about you will no doubt disappear."

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><p>Euphie stared down at the broach in her hand. So much had happened at Shikine Island. Her hunch was correct and Lelouch turned out to be Zero, but he still retained parts of the Lelouch she remembered. He was still smart and joked around. He was still kind and protective of her. She might even be able to squeeze her way back into that small part of his heart she still held. But his hatred of the Royal Family was so very clear. He wanted to destroy Britannia. He seemed to approve of Suzaku, strangely enough. Suzaku! He was the source of confusion now. He had apparently deserted his post when they went to fire on him. Saved himself instead of letting the army kill him and Zero. Even though Schneizel had pardoned him (it was an emergency), he still came to her and resigned from his position as her knight. He was ashamed for having survived while so many others had died. He said he wasn't worthy of being her knight, and forced the broach into her hand.<p>

"Then I'm not worthy, either" she said to herself. How could she be? She wasn't smart like Schneizel or brave like Cornelia. She couldn't demand peoples respect. The only thing she had going for her was her looks. She was useless as a princess. And yet someone like Suzaku, who was an ace pilot, a kind person, a good friend, and someone she loved… He claimed he was unworthy. If he was unworthy, Euphemia felt she was ten times worse.

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><p>Suzaku bowed before her. "Suzaku Kururuigi, returning for duty." 1<p>

Euphie smiled as he stood up. "Welcome home, Suzaku."

Each looked at the other like they didn't quite know what to say and then looked away. Euphie had declared her love for him during the battle at Kyushuu, and he all but said it back.

They both looked up. "Um–" They both said at the same time, and stopped when they realised the other wanted to speak. There was a moment where neither knew what to do, then Euphie giggled and Suzaku laughed.

"Suzaku, I know now…" Euphie started, "that I don't want to be involved in such tricky matters as justice or national policy. I just want to see those I love smiling and happy." She held out her hand. In it was the broach that signified her knight. "Will you help me in that regard?"

"Yes, Your Highness" Suzaku replied, placing both his hands around Euphemia's and the pin.

Euphie smiled, and an idea began to form in her mind.

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><p><strong>AN:  
><strong>If you're actually reading this you've made me a very happy person, as it means you've probably read the first chapter of my first fanfic.

The superscript 1 I've put in there is just for a little side note. In the anime, Suzaku says "Kururugi Suzaku tadaima kikan shimashita" which is a really formal way of saying 'Suzaku Kururugi has now returned'. I'm sure most of you know that 'tadaima' is what the Japanese say when the come home, and if someone from the family is home they welcome them back to the house by saying 'okaeri' or 'okaerinasai'. Euphie's reply to Suzaku is "Okaerinasai Suzaku", which kind of implies they live together or are family, which is why Suzaku is a little taken back. Thought some of you might find it interesting.

Reviews would be nice as they can help me improve my writing and make my stories nicer for you to read, but you don't have to.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass or anything from it. (My DVD collection doesn't count. I paid for that)

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><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 2

Euphie was typing furiously. An idea had come to her after talking with Lelouch and watching Suzaku. She could create a space in which nationality and status were irrelevant. She could create a space where not only Suzaku, but all Elevens were not looked down upon by Britannians. She could create a space where she, Lelouch and Nunnally could be together again. She could create a space where all people were equal, and all people could be happy.

As Sub Vicereine and Third Princess of Britannia, she could do this. However, Euphemia wasn't silly enough to think that her actions would go unpunished. If her father didn't do something, the nobles probably would. After all, this went against Britannia's policies. She _had_ thought of a solution to that problem, although she left it out of her report. She wasn't sure it was the best solution, and Schneizel was sure to think of a better one. He was the most intelligent of her siblings and had a very high position, both in the political and social hierarchy. Euphie also thought that he was one of the most accepting of her siblings, which is another reason why she chose to present her idea to him instead of Cornelia. Schneizel would be able to understand why she wanted to do this.

Many hours later, the princess sat back in her big, cushy chair and smiled at the screen. She was finished. Her proposal was 37 pages long and contained all the major points of her idea, with details into how it would work and why she wanted to implement it. She had also outlined some other points, where she either wasn't sure if it was a good idea or didn't know how to make it work. Schneizel, she was sure, would help with those and even propose some other ideas if she was lucky. Euphie scrolled back up the top her of document, ready to read through it again to make sure there were no mistakes, only to look at the clock and realise it was well past midnight. She knew from her studies that if you read over something just after you'd written it, you were likely to miss mistakes, so she stood up, stretched, and headed to her room. She would proof-read it in the morning and then take it to Schneizel.

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><p>Euphemia sat in the chair across from her brother, his large, mahogany desk separating them. She looked every bit the princess she had been trained to be. Back straight, legs together, head up and eyes on the person you were sitting with. The only thing that belied her outer calm was her hands. They were folded in her lap, as they should be, but they were clenched tight. Every now and then, she would unclench her hands only to wring them, which she stopped when she realised what she was doing. Schneizel sat comfortably opposite his sister, most of her proposal spread across his desk with the few bits he was still reading in his hands. He had a pad and pen set on his right hand side, on which he would write notes. What they said, Euphie wasn't sure. He hadn't spoken since she'd come in and handed him the pile of papers, asking him to read it and then give her his opinion.<p>

Schneizel wrote down one last thing, before reordering the papers and placing them in the centre of his desk. He looked up at Euphie and smiled.

"I think it's a wonderful idea Euphie. I'm glad you bought it to me."

Euphemia beamed. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Schneizel replied. "Not only will it allow the Elevens in the Zone to flourish, but you've also included a plan to help boost the economy in the ghettos. With these improvements, the terrorists and rebels will no longer need to fight us. Their people can live freely in the area, and those that choose not to will not suffer for it."

"Yes! That is very much what I was hoping for," Euphemia said eagerly. "This way, we can live in peace together. I know that there will be nobles who aren't happy with my decision, and I've thought of one way to placate them, but I was wondering if you would be able to help me think of others. Although I don't mind giving up my name, it would mean I wouldn't be able to see my family as much…"

"Of course, Euphie," said Schneizel. "The problem with the nobles can be easier solved later. There are plenty of ways to sedate them. I do, however, have a few questions for you."

Euphemia straightened herself in her chair again, having lent towards her brother in her excitement.

"With your plans for policing the area, you were going to select and personally interview people from the military, correct?"

"Yes, that's right" she replied. "I would like it to be made up of only those who truly want to work together with the Japanese. Ideally, it would be made up of half Britannians and half honorary Britannians, but I'm not sure I'll be able to find enough of each to police the area properly."

"Then I propose, and this is just an idea, that when you make the announcement, you ask the Japanese people to join the police. Set up a training centre just for those that will police the Zone, so the Britannians, Honorary Britannians and the Japanese will all train together, and get to know each other better. That way the police will not only be an effective unit, but also free of corruption and trusted by the community."

Euphie was astounded by her brother. She would have never thought of asking the Japanese if they wanted to be police of their own area. She thought that all those who wanted to be police would have signed up. But then, she remembered, only Honorary Britannians have that privilege and many natives disliked the system.

Schneizel continued to question her about each element of the proposal he had taken note of. The way he asked about each point allowed her to think of solutions that she hadn't been able to come up with before, and where she couldn't think of anything, he made suggestions that fitted perfectly.

"Just one more question for you Euphie," Schneizel said, after over an hour. "What will you do about Zero?"

"I'm sorry?" said Euphie, posing it more as a question than a statement. "I don't understand what you mean."

Schneizel just smiled politely. "I mean, Zero has control of most of the Eleven population. They love him. It's highly likely that, if he participates in the Zone, he will try and rest power of it from you. He will try to control it himself."

Euphemia frowned. She hadn't thought of that. She'd just thought of how happy she and Lelouch would be if they could act as family again. But Lelouch was Zero, and Zero wanted to protect the weak from the strong. He wanted Britannia to stop bullying Japan.

"I'll let you think on that one. My only idea so far is to capture Zero and have him executed, but I don't think that would work positively towards your goal."

"I will think on it brother."

"I'm proud of you, Euphie," said Schneizel, causing her to blush. "You thought of a way to almost end the violence between Britannia and Area 11 peacefully. I'll discuss it with Cornelia so that she understands. Now go tell your knight the good news. I know he's part of the reason you want this so much."

Euphemia blushed even more. She thanked her brother and hurried out of the room. The guards her Cornelia had assigned to her for when Suzaku was absent were waiting outside. They followed dutifully behind as she made her way back to her room. Once she reached her door, she turned to tell them to wait outside, only to notice they were in uniform.

"I'll be going to Ashford Academy once I'm changed," she said. "There's a festival on today and I would like to go unnoticed. Please change your clothes if you wish to accompany me."

Her guards looked at each other, then bowed and went to fulfil her orders. Euphie turned around and opened her door, walking in to her room. She wanted a disguise, so none of her normal clothes would do. She walked over to the section of her wardrobe she had designated to what her sisters called 'commoner's clothes'. One of her favourite dresses was in this section, but instead she pulled out a short orange one with long sleeves. _Still to recognisable_, she thought after checking the mirror, and drew out a small military looking jacket to wear over the top. She grabbed the matching hat and tucked her hair under it before checking the mirror again. _Almost_ she thought as she looked at herself. Her eyes still gave her away. Running over to her dresser, she took the biggest pair of sunglasses she could see and put them on. Perfect. Only people who knew her well would be able to tell that it was really Euphie under all this.

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><p>Euphemia was extremely excited as she and her guards walked through the gate. As royalty, Euphie had never had the chance to go to a commoner's school, let alone an open festival at one. There was so much to see and do, she was tempted to put off finding Suzaku just so she could try everything. Just as she was deciding whether to go to a food stall or a game, she ran in to someone.<p>

"Umph," said Euphie.

"Oh," said a small voice. Euphie looked across. She had almost run into a small girl in a wheelchair. It was the girl's maid that had put out her arm to stop the collision.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologised to the girl. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied, turning to look at Euphie. "Are you ok?"

She gasped. The girl had her eyes closed. Lelouch had said that Nunnally was still blind and crippled. Could this really be her?

"Nunnally?" she asked.

"Huh?" The girl turned even more towards Euphie. "That voice… Is it you? Euphie?"

While her guards tensed, she dropped to the ground beside Nunnally.

"It is you! Oh Nunnally, I've missed you," she said, hugging her younger sister. "Do you have somewhere private for us to talk?"

"Oh, yes. Sayoko, can you take us back to the clubhouse?" Nunnally asked her caretaker.

"Of course, Lady Nunnally. Follow me, if you please, Princess," said Sayoko, already turning Nunnally around and walking away. Euphemia hurried after her.

They walked through the festival and towards a building hidden around the side. Inside Sayoko led them to a dining room with a table in the centre, placing Nunnally chair on the side without a chair.

"If you would all be so kind as to wait outside," said Euphie. Her guards grudgingly obeyed, but the maid stayed where she was.

"It's ok, Sayoko," Nunnally said to her. "Euphie won't hurt me."

"As you wish," she replied with a bow and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

It was wonderful to talk to Nunnally again. Euphie had thought she'd lost both of them after they'd been exiled, but they were hidden away, alive and safe. Euphemia would tell Nunnally about Pendragon, and Nunnally would tell Euphemia about Ashford. It turned out that she and Lelouch had lived with Suzaku when they first came to Japan, but got separated from him during the war. It made Euphie happy to know that Suzaku had good friends here. She worried about him being with other Britannians, but with a friend like Lelouch, she knew he was safe. It briefly crossed her mind to ask Suzaku why he hadn't said anything about Lelouch, but Euphie remembered that he and Nunnally were hiding from the Empire. Lelouch hates Britannia, and Suzaku has to know that. Of course he'd keep his best friend's secret from her. It hurt her to admit it though.

One of Nunnally's questions caught her off guard. She asked if Euphie still loved Lelouch, like she did when they were little. Euphemia ended up admitting that while she still loved Lelouch as her brother, she also loved Suzaku. She felt like a school girl instead of a princess, telling Nunnally about all the little things he does that she loves. It made her even happier when Nunnally said that hearing Euphie talk like that about Suzaku made her happy. She said both Euphie and Suzaku deserved happiness.

"And who better to keep you happy than the one you love and who loves you back." That was what Nunnally had said. And it was that which gave Euphie the solutions to her brother's query.

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><p>"Do you hear me, Zero?" Euphie had not expected to be presented with a chance to make her announcement this soon. She hadn't even told Suzaku about it. But with her new idea, it only left the problem of how to deal with the nobles. She was determined to have news of this spread as soon as possible.<p>

"I don't care about your past or who you are underneath that mask. I beg you, join us in creating this special zone of freedom. Zero, help me build a new future within Britannia, a place for everyone!"

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><p><strong>AN:  
><strong>

It makes me kind of sad to realise that 10 pages of handwriting condenses down to only 4 pages (2 250words) on word, which condenses down to a barely scrolling page on here. I'm considering making each chapter longer, but I'm not sure if it'd go together well. Give me your thoughts.

On another note, as Worker72 said, so far this has mainly been following the anime. Only one chapter left before I pretty much completely leave it behind! (Hope you'll keep reading until then).

And now I apologise. The next chapter won't be out for at least a week or two. I move back to uni on Friday so won't have much time to write.

P.S. I love you all :D Over 100 visits on the first day Chapter 1 came out, and now it's up over 200. You make me all very happy. And those who reviewed (Worker72, MS-16 Z Jager and nada), thank you so much for taking the time to review my writing.

~Kasai


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, places or inventions from Code Geass. (I forgot to do this when I first put it up. Oops)

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><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 3

"I will make this happen on my own! To that end, you will be my Pilate, Euphemia li Britannia!"

"I have relinquished that name!" Euphemia yelled. "Or at least, I will have after the opening ceremony."

Lelouch looked dumbstruck. "Why would you do that?" he asked.

Euphie smiled sweetly. "I took away your dreams by making you participate in this. It's only fair that I do the same right?"

"An even trade," said Lelouch, thoughtfully. "But what are you giving up that rival's my goal?"

"Well," she started. "Cornelia said I wouldn't be able to achieve it unless I became empress, but I wanted to use my power as a princess to help eradicate the racism through Britannia. I thought that if the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan was successful, I might be able to implement it into other Areas. It would make a world where we could all be friends, despite where we came from."

_A kinder world _thought Lelouch. _Just the same as Nunnally wanted. What I was working towards._

Lelouch laughed. He could get what he wanted whether he went along with this or not. In his original plan, Zero would be seen as a hero that the Japanese would follow. But then he would have to work on the rest of Britannia to make sure Nunnally was truly safe, which would mean leaving her alone while he went overseas. Using Euphemia's plan, they could work on making Japan a peaceful place and possibly expanding the SAZ. When it came to the other Areas and the homeland itself, Euphie would be the one to negotiate things, while he would remain with Nunnally in Japan. Lelouch didn't want to give up Zero, but in the end he'd get what he wanted either way.

"You are an idiot, but a worthy opponent" he said to her. "I accept your offer on one condition. You retain your title of Third Princess on Britannia. If I help you, I'm sure we can make a kinder world."

Euphemia beamed. "You'll help me? Oh, this will be wonderful! With you and Suzaku working with me, I know we can do it! There is one thing I would like to know though."

Lelouch gave her a look indicating she could continue. "Did you really think I'd shoot you if you asked?"

He laughed and turned away. Such a princess should not have to look a monster in the eyes as it reveals its horrors. "If I really want to make an order, no one can disobey. Shoot me, fire Suzaku, even kill all the Japanese. I could tell you to do anything and you'd have no choice in the matter."

"Really? How can do you do that?" she asked inquisitively.

Lelouch turned around to face her again. "I look you in the eyes and will it to happen as I say it."

She gave him a funny look. "Is it just your left eye?"

He frowned. "Yes, it is. How–"

"And does your eye turn red when you use it?"

"Yes, but–"

Euphemia now mirrored his expression. "Then you're trying to use it on me now?"

"What? No! I just agreed to help you didn't I? Why would…" Lelouch faded off as he remembered the pain from earlier. He quickly covered his eye with his hand and moved to collect his mask.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Lelouch didn't reply. He didn't trust himself. If what he thought was happening was true, then he wouldn't speak until his face was completely obstructed from view. Once his mask was in place, he turned to face his sister once again.

"It appears I no longer have control of my ability. Until I am able to talk to my benefactor, I will wear this to prevent an accident."

"Responsible as ever," she replied. "There is something else I'd like to ask of you though."

"Which is?"

"I was wondering if, as Zero, you would be willing to accept the position as chief of police within the SAZ."

Lelouch was once again left virtually speechless from Euphemia's proclamation.

"Of course, I've already selected a quite few members from the local military, both Britannians and Honorary Britannians to be part of your force. I interviewed them all myself to make sure that they understood the purpose of the Zone and that they would not allow discrimination against anyone who lives or works there. I was hoping that you would be able to encourage some of the Black Knights to join. Though they would need to have the same principles as those I've selected from the military." Lelouch wasn't sure how she could say so much in one breath. He decided she must have extra lung capacity. "Oh! Once you've selected some from the Black Knights I could interview them to double check and you could interview those I've chosen to make sure you can work with them."

Once he was sure she was finished, he began speaking as Zero. "I would be honoured to be appointed chief of police." He switched back to Lelouch. "But I don't think that would be in our favour in getting you in to a high enough position to implement this across Britannia."

"I think it'll be ok. It was Schneizel and Nunnally that gave me the idea actually."

He balked slightly. Schneizel and his little sister had given her an idea?

"Schneizel said that the Zone will make terrorists into the bad guys in everyone's eyes. But that still doesn't mean they'll stop. The reason the fight is to get their country back, right? And if they don't have some degree of control, they'll just keep fighting," Euphie explained. "That's where what Nunnally said comes in. She said 'Who better to keep you happy than the one you love and who loves you back'. The Black Knights love the Japanese and the Japanese love them. If I put Zero in charge, then the Japanese have someone they know and trust as their authority. The other terrorist groups will have nothing to complain about then, as their people will have some power. The Britannians living there will feel safe as well, not only because there are Britannians in the police but because you are the leader of the knights who fight for the weak."

Lelouch had to admit, he was impressed. Theoretically, the plan was sound. All it needed was for him to do his job properly. Euphemia must have had a great deal of trust in him for this to work. Suzaku surely wouldn't have approved of this.

"Have you informed your knight of this plan yet?"

Euphie paused. "Well, no, but I thought that if I had him help you a little he would be ok with it."

Lelouch sighed. "Call him."

"What?"

"Call him, get him to come in here and explain it to him. Get him to bring the other person that was in the Gawain if he can."

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><p>Suzaku Kururugi's phone was vibrating in his pocket. The sweet melody, which indicated his princess was calling him, could have been heard by those on the stadium stage if it was silent. And yet neither he nor the three guards with him stirred from their places on the ground.<p>

* * *

><p>"Strange" said Euphie, hanging up on the answering machine for the third time. "He's not answering."<p>

"Let's head back to the stage," Lelouch suggested. "We've kept the public waiting, and we can check in with him on the way."

While he didn't voice it, Lelouch was slightly worried. They'd left Suzaku out there with C.C. in the Gawain. While they weren't friends as Zero and Euphemia's Knight, they were friends as Lelouch and Suzaku. After what he saw C.C. do to him at Narita, and when he was at the ruins at Kamine Island, the idea of leaving him alone with the witch was not a pleasant one. He hoped she hadn't done anything to him.

His hopes were dashed when the stepped outside the G-1. Suzaku was unconscious on the ground, as well as the three other guards that were there. C.C. was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

><p>Euphemia was distraught.<p>

"Suzaku!" she cried, running over to where he lay. She knelt down beside him and shook his shoulders, trying to wake him up. Belatedly, she checked for a pulse and found it, pumping rapidly under her fingers. At least he was still alive.

"He won't wake up," Lelouch told her as he checked the others. "Not for a while."

Euphie looked at him through teary eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because my witch of a benefactor doesn't particularly like him," he replied, while standing up. "We should move them under cover and continue to the stage. It won't really matter that Suzaku isn't there with you."

"Will they be alright outside on their own?"

"There should be nothing to worry about, but we can move them into the G-1 if you'd prefer. It might give you some time to recompose yourself as well."

Euphemia nodded and wiped her eyes. "Yes, let's do that."

After they had left the people just inside the entrance to the mobile command unit (with a guard of their own), she and Lelouch began their walk to the stadium.

They reached the stadium entrance and paused.

"After you, your highness," he said with a bow.

Euphie raised her chin and formed the perfect princess posture she had been taught, then proceeded to walk, Zero following half a step behind to her right.

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><p>She presented her practiced speech almost perfectly. She spoke about how happy she was that all the people had decided to help her help their country. She spoke about how glad she was to see all the people put aside their differences to come together in the Zone. And she spoke about her plans for the Zone, how she hoped that it would provide an example for the rest of the country. Which led to how she hoped to maintain the peace and equality that the Zone would provide.<p>

"Anyone who wishes to for a job in the Specially Administrated Zone's Police Force may do so, regardless of heritage and previous training. The Chief of Police of the SAZ and I will personally look through the resume of every person who applies for this Force. We will personally conduct the interviews and then select those that we believe can uphold the principles of the Zone, and help benefit it. I chose the applicant for the Chief of Police myself, and am happy to announce that he has accepted my offer. May I present to you the first Chief of Police of the Specially Administrated Zone, Zero!"

While there were a few gasps and whispers from the nobles on the stage, the crowd's cheer drowned out any chance of someone opposing her idea. She stepped away from the microphone and gestured to Zero to step forward and make a short speech.

He rose from his seat next to Darlton, walked up to the stand and waited for the crowd to quiet. Once they did, he began.

"To the people of the Specially Administrated Zone, I am honoured to have been chosen as your Chief of Police. Within this Zone, we are all equal. There will be no difference between Britannians and Japanese. We all start on equal footing. However, as we grow, there will be people to try to exert power over those they think are below them, those they think aren't as good or those they think do not deserve what we will provide. It is this that the SAZ Police for and I will work to prevent, and I ask all of you to consider whether you would like to help Princess Euphemia and myself in this endeavour. It will be hard. It will be stressful. It may be dangerous. Acceptance is not guarantees upon application. Remember that you all have skills, and they will all be useful in this zone." Zero paused and the crowd applauded. He then looked out beyond the stadium to where he knew most of the Black Knights were in waiting.

"To my ever loyal Black Knights," he began again. The crowd quickly silenced. "Do not mistake this for an order. You are free to choose what you wish. I know many of you hold grudges against Britannia, and for that I do not blame you. But do not join me in this venture if you cannot put aside your anger. Prejudice in the Zone will not be tolerated, against Britannians or Japanese. I do hope that you can put aside your hatred for the Britannia that invaded your country, and help the evolving Britannia and Princess Euphemia recreate the peaceful place Japan once was. Your skills and motivation would be invaluable to the cause."

Zero stepped away from the microphone and bowed his head to the Princess. She nodded and stepped back in front of the microphone as he retook his seat.

"And with that," she said brightly "I pronounce the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan, open!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** As it turns out, I pretty much have Mondays off, so I used today to write instead of unpack like I was supposed to :)

Hope most of you are happy with the what I'm doing with Euphie. I must say I hated what happened to her. Only watched the full episode twice (once dubbed, once subbed). Every other time I skip the scene. And there will be no more copying from the anime! It's now all (hopefully) completely original. I might at some point take something from somewhere, but it's unlikely to follow it the same way the past chapters have done.

For anyone who doesn't know, Pilate is the guy from the bible that was made to oversee Jesus' trial. He did some things and said some stuff and that's about all I can remember. I'm not exactly a religious person and can't remember for the life of me what I was taught in school, so I apologise if I've offended anyone.

I _might_ have another chapter out next Sunday or Monday, depending on my uni work. Don't count on it though.

Thanks for reading :D


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, technologies, etc, etc. Doesn't stop me dreaming though.

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><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 4

Charles zi Britannia stood on the edge of existence. His platform was the border between the dead and the living, the whole and the individual, God and humanity. Here, he could talk to those whose time had expired in the world of the living, even when his own time had not. He enjoyed being in this place. Enjoyed talking to the dead and seeing his creation slowly take shape.

Men in dark hooded robes soon stepped on to the platform, bowing their heads to the emperor. He did not turn around to greet them.

"Master V.V. awaits your arrival, my Lord," one said.

Charles sighed and turned as the hooded men straightened. Together, they descended the stairs and returned to a world filled with war and lies.

"You called, brother?" Charles said as he entered the room.

V.V. was examining one of the many paintings on the walls. It showed a quaint little house, barely more than a cottage, surrounded by high grass and wild flowers, with a few trees dotting the borderline.

"I did indeed," he replied, his brother joining him. "I am curious about your plans for Euphemia."

"I plan to do nothing."

The child-like man raised his eyebrows and turned his head to look up at the emperor.

"Nothing?" he queried. "One of your children is going directly against the foundations on which Britannia is built, and you plan to do nothing?"

Charles looked straight ahead as he responded. "You and I have learned that people do not stand equal with each other. Individuals constantly seek to make themselves better than others. Even without action on my behalf, Euphemia's idea of a peaceful world will fall."

"And what if it does not?" V.V. replied in a sharp tone. "She herself is scarcely useful for anything besides attracting public sympathy, but the one named Zero borders on tactical and strategical genius. He may be able to use her to his advantage, and against us."

At that, the emperor tilted his head slightly, and angled his eyes to look at his sibling. "You have that little faith, brother?" he asked, before continuing without waiting for a reply. "It matters not whether Euphemia's plan succeeds or fails in the end. But I see no reason to forgo a chance to determine where my children stand. If it goes too far, then we have the chance to fix multiple problems in one go."

"I see," said V.V. He turned around and began to walk out of the room. "I suppose I'll trust you with this Charles. After all, they are_ your_ children."

Charles waited until his brother had left the room completely before chuckling to himself. Marianne's conversations with C.C. allowed them both to keep an eye on Lelouch. It would be interesting to see what the boy would do from now on.

* * *

><p>Kururugi Suzaku woke on a stretcher about to be loaded into an ambulance. While he didn't remember falling unconscious, he did remember that Princess Euphemia had been with Zero. Which is why when he finally escaped the circle of medics insisting he lie back down, he was horrified. Standing in front of the Gawain, with its tow rope lowered, was Zero and the princess, with no one protecting her. Darlton stood about ten metres away conversing with some dignitary, but with his back turned to them he was in no position to help Euphie should Zero pull something. Suzaku was had just started to run over to her when he was stopped dead. Princess Euphemia was giving Zero a <em>hug<em>. They embraced and she gave a bright, happy smile, before watching him step back onto the tow rope and be lifted to the cockpit of the Knightmare. Zero made a head movement in his direction, and Euphemia looked over. She beamed at him and went to lift her skirts to run, but Suzaku jogged over to meet her before she got too far. He took up position between Euphie and the Gawain, eyes not leaving Zero until he was well on his way back to where ever he came from. Only then did he turn to face his princess.

"Princess, you should not leave yourself alone with such a dangerous person," he said, looking around. "Particularly not when there are people available."

Euphie bought a hand to her mouth and giggled a little. Suzaku frowned. She took her personal safety far too lightly for his liking.

"It's ok, Suzaku," she said. "He is an ally now, and someone we can work with and trust. You were unconscious for it, but the opening ceremony has finished. Come on, I'll tell you what you missed."

Euphemia turned and began to walk to the G1. He took up his position to her right, half a step behind.

* * *

><p>"I need to talk to you before the others return," Lelouch said to C.C., as she landed the Gawain at the Black Knights base.<p>

He estimated he had at least half an hour before Kallen and Tohdoh arrived, maybe a ten minutes longer if they kept pace with those in the Burais. They walked in silence to his personal quarters and even there, he didn't take off the helmet of Zero. C.C. made herself comfortable on his bed while Lelouch remained standing.

"You know that no one comes in here without knocking first. It's safe to take the helmet off."

"While I am with the black knights, I am always Zero. But this mask protects them as well as myself now," he said, turning away as he removed it and placed it on the desk. "I knew this power was dangerous when I made that contract with you, but what am I supposed to do now!"

He slammed his fist into the desk as he turned back around. His left eye was red, the geass sigil prominent. C.C. made an expression close to pity, before reforming her façade.

"So it was that," she said.

"You'd better have a solution for this, witch," Lelouch said darkly. "It serves no problem here, but once I'm home, then what? And at school?"

"You could always just wear sunglasses," she suggested.

"Don't be stupid!" he yelled back. "I can't go around wearing sunglasses all the time, and something like Mao's visor would just be worse." He dropped into his chair and rested his chin on his fist. "I need something inconspicuous and easy to remove, so that I can use it if I need to."

"Try building a screen into your eye," C.C. teased. "That might work."

Surprisingly enough, it didn't get the rise out of him she expected. Instead, the comment seemed to enhance his thinking.

"If I could create a special lens to cover my eye, it should block my geass." He seemed to be talking more to himself that to C.C. This point was only proven when he turned back around to his desk and began making plans on a piece of paper. "I'll give Rakshata the requirements, and she can work out the specifics…"

C.C. simply watched as Lelouch continued to write down specifics for the contact. She only disturbed him when she heard the sound of landspinners and knighmares powering down.

"It seems the others have finally arrived," she said, looking over the top of cheese-kun.

He put his pen down, folded the paper and placed in his coat.

"Time to face the music," he said with a smirk, replacing his mask as they walked out the door.

* * *

><p>"I don't trust him," Suzaku said firmly. "And I don't think you should either. This is the man that killed Clovis. This is the man that was trying to beat Britannia into submission. You yourself said that he told you he hated the Royal Family!"<p>

"But he's on our side now!" Euphemia exclaimed. "I don't like what he did to Clovis, but he promised answer any questions I have of him personally."

"He's still a criminal and a murderer! Why would you place someone like that in such a sensitive position? You should have him step down, or at least put myself or someone trustworthy in a position that he has to answer to before going through with anything."

Euphie bristled. "You don't trust my judgement, Suzaku?" She said with a commanding air. Suzaku fumbled for an answer, so she continued. "We both agreed that anything being put through needed the approval of the other. It is a mutually beneficial relationship. Having someone above the Chief of Police means putting a single person directly in charge. That would make it only too easy for people to take advantage of that person and therefore take advantage of the Zone. By having two people , it makes the Zone that much safer against such things. If I am manipulated by someone, he is there to make sure they don't succeed, and vice versa. Only with us trusting each other and working together will the Specially Administrated Zone work."

Suzaku was set in his opinion though. "I still think it would have been wiser to approach the Vicereine or even the Prime Minister about this decision before you asked Zero and presented it to the public."

"And Cornelia would have done everything in her power to make sure that he wasn't the one to get the position," she retorted.

"Why do you think that is! She don't trust him, and he's certainly not worthy of the amount of power you're giving him. He could easily take control of the Zone. He's cunning, and could have you wrapped around his finger without you ever realising."

It hurt Euphemia to hear the person she loved make her sound like a child. "You have so little faith in my abilities, Suzaku," she said quietly, looking at the ground.

Suzaku looked shocked when he realised what he'd said.

"I'm sorry, Euphie," he apologised. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I just–"

"You know, the only reason we found you out there is because he asked for you to be present," she said, her voice still small, her face still downwards. "He didn't think it was a good idea for me to go through with this without telling you. He wanted to bring you inside so we could explain it to you properly, in a way that you would understand. He wants the exact same thing I do Suzaku. He just didn't have to power to go about it the same way."

Suzaku had no response. How could he? He didn't trust that Zero hadn't been lying to her, but Euphemia determinedly believed that he had been telling the truth.

"Why do you trust him?" That was all he could come up with.

Euphie looked up and stared straight in to his eyes. "Why does it matter? He is a genius, Suzaku, and he's going to use his abilities to help us change Britannia from within. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

* * *

><p>Lelouch was flooded with questions the moment he walked into the meeting room.<p>

"Zero, why did you agree?"

"Did she contact you beforehand?"

"Was there a behind the scenes deal, Zero?"

"Zero, did you threaten her?"

"Zero?"

"Zero"

"Zero!"

"Enough!" he roared. After five attempts to quiet them, the silence that followed was almost heavenly.

"The Specially Administrated Zone was truly Princess Euphemia's idea. It was not proposed to her by any of her siblings or Royal Family, nor anyone of nobility. Therefore, we can trust that the SAZ is good for all people involved. I was not informed by anyone of the princess's decision to appoint me Chief of Police before I entered the G1 mobile base. Euphemia, it seems, kept her choice on the matter strictly to herself. Not even her Knight of Honour was informed. I will admit that it was not in my plans to join the SAZ. I believed it to be little more than an attempt by Britannia to win us over. My plan changed, however, when Euphemia revealed to me her goal of the Specially Administrated Zone." Zero paused, and looked out to the faces of the Black Knights. "Her goal is very similar to ours. Her goal is to expand the Specially Administrated Zone across the whole of Japan. While Britannia we would still be under Britannian rule by name, in all other matters this means a free Japan!"

Most of the Black Knight roared with excitement, and cheered with delight. They would gain a free Japan without losing so many comrades. They could once again be proud of their nation, and not be shunned for it. They could start to rebuild their lives.

Zero waited for the cheering to subside slightly before leaving for the planning room. C.C. was in the crowd, seeking out those he wished a private audience with.

* * *

><p>Kallen, Tohdoh, Ohgi and Rakshata were all seated at a table. Their eyes were trained on Zero, who sat at the head.<p>

"I have called you here because I have special requests of each of you. Keep in mind that these are requests, not orders, and so you do not need to proceed with them if you truly do not wish to."

Everyone looked apprehensive. If it was something they might not want to do, they most likely didn't want to hear it in the first place.

"Tohdoh, I'll start with you," Zero said as he looked at the man in question. "I would like you to take up the position of head instructor at the police academy that will train officers for the SAZ. While your knowledge in war is great, I believe that your knowledge in martial arts and teamwork will be greatly beneficial."

Tohdoh looked slightly surprised. He was certainly not expecting something like this. "Will I be the only head instructor or will there be others?" he asked.

"There is only one head, however you will have a team of people working under you that Euphemia and I will have personally selected. These will included Britannians, Honorary Britannians and Japanese," Zero answered. "Euphemia has said you that are most welcome to sit in on the interviews and have input into those who make the cut. You will be the one working with them, after all."

Tohdoh nodded. "I would be honoured to help you keep the peace."

Zero's focus now shifted to the other man at the table.

"Oghi," he started. "This is something Princess Euphemia specifically asked of me, and that I'm hoping you will choose to accept."

Ohgi looked at Zero, his face determined. If it was anything to do with the police force, he would have to decline. He just wasn't suited to fighting, no matter how much he tried.

"As there is well over 200, 000 people who had applied for the Zone, a school is being built inside the SAZ. Euphemia asked if there were any from the Black Knights who would be capable of running it. She wanted it to be one of my most trusted people. Someone I could trust to teach this new generation about fairness and equality. Someone who would not discriminate against a child simply because of the colour of their skin, their parents' occupations or their physical abilities. You not only fit these requirements, but exceed them. You used to be a teacher, didn't you?"

Ohgi's face was blank with shock. He never dreamed he'd be able to become a teacher again. And the praises from Zero were more than he deserved. With this, he and Chigusa would be able to live a perfectly happy life. Ohgi snapped out of his daydreaming when he realised the whole table was staring at him.

"Oh, uh, yes, I did. And I'd love to take the position, Zero. Thank you."

Although they couldn't see it under the mask, Lelouch smiled. To place Ohgi in the school was something he was actually pleased about. He wasn't lying when he said Ohgi was one of his most trusted people, but war and tactics simply didn't suit him. He was a people person, and placing him anywhere else was a waste of his talents.

"Kallen," Zero said, refocussing on the young redhead. She straightened up in her seat.

"The job I have for you isn't in the SAZ. It's probably not something you'll particularly like either. What I would like you to do, is to placate the nobles on the outside."

Kallen frowned. She hated dealing with the nobility, but she would wait and see what Zero's explanation was before deciding. After all, she was the captain of his guard, so it had to be something important.

"While all the Britannians inside the Zone will be perfectly willing to cooperate, and to an extent those outside as well, it goes against everything the nobles stand for. It will be your job to sway them to Euphemia's side. If you accept, I will introduce you to Euphemia. While she can be girly and naïve, I think you'll find her pleasant enough. The Stadtfeld name is fairly well known, and once it is well linked with Royalty, you can use your influence on the other nobles."

Kallen's frown deepened. The social games the nobility played was one of the reasons she hated them. But, she reasoned, she really was the only one who could do it. And she would. If only because it was Zero who asked her.

"I accept," she said.

"Your assistance is very much appreciated, Kallen. Thank you."

To her horror she could feel herself blushing.

"I'll need you to report to me on your progress at least once a week. Euphemia will be made aware of your actions, but she tends to overlook things like this. Otherwise I would like you to continue attending school as usual."

They all focussed back on Zero. He stood up and walked around to Rakshata, handing her a folded piece of paper.

"Your instructions are written there, along with the requirements," he said to her.

She took the paper and placed it inside her coat.

"I thank you all for your cooperation in these matters. Ohgi, Tohdoh, whether you speak to others about your appointments is at your discretion. Kallen, yours needs to remain secret. You are dismissed."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So that took me absolutely ages to write. It generally only takes me around three hours to type up a chapter. This one took me the better half of a day and I'm still not happy with it.

Thank you to all the people who left me reviews :) Worker72, nada, MS-16 Z Jager, Could be more Original (when I first read it I thought that was your review!), NoNameAvailable Bis, Alastor Pariah, Lord Ban and Trife! A special thanks to Trife for pointing out my typos and grammatical errors.

I also realised that not only do I have people reading this for whom (I presume) English is a second language, but also people in from countries I've never heard of! (Sorry to the person from Domincan Revar, I'll try find your country, I promise). This makes me super excited :)

Sorry to say I probably won't have an update next week, but I'll still try. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

****Disclaimer: Sadly, I've run out of witty ways to say I don't own any part of Code Geass. Bear with me until I think of some more.

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><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 5

Two men sat around a table in a darkened room. Spread across the table was a myriad of plans, with a worn-looking conceptual map placed on top. There was a red dot placed near the centre of what appeared to be a heavily built up area.

"You're sure it'll still work?" one man asked the other. He was heavyset, with a square jaw and broad shoulders. "It's been down there for a while."

The other man looked up from the plans. He was smaller and younger, more defined than the other man.

"Yeah, I'm positive" he replied. "The box they were in was definitely airtight. Once we flick the switch, there should be five minutes before the main street in the central business district goes boom. That's assuming Bravo is still there."

"It is deceptively small. No one would have seen it, let alone noticed it. Even if they did notice it, it was inconspicuous enough that no one would think to tell the authorities." The older man paused and put his fingers together. "This will be a blow for them _and_ teach those traitors for siding with the enemy."

"Two bird with one stone, I believe the saying goes," said the smaller one. "They deserve what they get. Anyone who thinks we can get along with _them_ is just as bad as those–"

A knock on the door interrupted the pair.

"Enter," the heavyset man said in a booming voice.

The door opened and a young man stepped through.

"Sirs," he said crisply with a salute. "Infiltration attempt four has failed. Confirmation of Bravo placement remains unknown."

Both men sighed.

"Thank you for your report" said the smaller man, looking at his watch. It was 8:00pm. "Operation Oscar Kilo will begin in 1130 hours."

* * *

><p>Lelouch sighed as he looked out his office window. It was 8pm, meaning he had started work barely an hour ago. Euphemia had refused to let him stop attending classes during the day, saying that he'd have to find a way to do both unless he revealed himself as Zero. His solution was to continue what he'd been doing with the Black Knights. Lelouch Lamperouge was at school during the day and Zero worked his magic at night. Unfortunately, Euphie said he had to do at least five hours in the office so people could see that Zero wasn't slacking off, which usually meant he was there until at least midnight, if he went straight there after school.<p>

The plus side was that he hadn't had to take his work home yet. For the month and a half the SAZ had been open, things had been going surprisingly well. While two thirds of the residential areas were still under construction along with a quarter of the business district, the Zone was thriving. Lelouch liked to think that at least some of it came from the security measures he'd implemented.

Surrounding the entire was a large, polygon wall, almost reminiscent of the defences of old European townships. It had originally been white, but Princess Euphemia had sanctioned different community groups to paint both sides, claiming it would be more friendly and welcoming. A large section had even been set aside at Ohgi's request. He planned to have each graduating class of the school leave a handprint with their name.

Entrances were set periodically around the wall, each manned by at least two members of the Zone Police Force at all times. Guns and explosives were prohibited in the Zone without a licence, and even those who had one were monitored. This originally posed a problem to Lelouch. How was he going to stop people smuggling them in? It was Rakshata that had provided him with the answer. She had seen some of his discarded plans and proposed a relatively well developed solution. A carbon nanotube air filter could be fitted to each side of the entrance and detect residue from guns and explosives. It was then the simple matter of checking the individuals who passed through the gate at the time the filter detected something. The guards at the gate would be equipped with tasers to prevent false alarms. Euphemia had disapproved of the idea. She naively believed that regular people would not bring guns in if it was against the law, and she couldn't see any harm in fireworks.

Surprisingly, it had been Euphie's knight choosing Zero's side over her own that had changed the princess's mind. Suzaku had been more lenient towards Zero recently, but Lelouch wasn't sure if it was solely because his request. Tohdho was a fine instructor, and his subordinates were superb, but Suzaku was a physical genius. The idea had originally come from Tohdoh himself. He had asked if it was possible for Suzaku to spare a few moments a month to come down and spar with him at the academy, claiming it would be good for the students. Lelouch thought Tohdoh just wanted an excuse to have his old student around, but it was a good thought all the same. He had tweeked the wording a little bit when presenting the idea to his friend so it fit his needs better.

"Tohdoh has asked if you would be willing to help him with the training on new recruits at the academy. Only if you have the time to spare, of course."

Those had been Zero's exact words. Suzaku had been shocked to start with, then pleased before he remembered who he was talking to, and attempted to school his features into indifference. While it failed miserably, Zero accepted his reply of needing to think and ask Euphemia if it was acceptable. She had been ecstatic with the idea, and so Suzaku now helped train the academy students at least once a week. If he didn't have time to spare, Euphie would actually go do her work down there so he could help. While Lelouch disliked the idea of giving Suzaku some amount of control in his domain, he felt the ends were worth his discomfort. Suzaku's trust in Zero had increased, and he know at least had a proper reason whenever he opposed one of Zero's ideas, instead of just saying 'because I don't trust you.'

But the work at the academy plus his normal duties meant Suzaku was rarely at school anymore. Lelouch was almost certain that Euphie had ordered him back on several occasions. It had even got to the point where she had asked if he'd be willing to tutor Suzaku as Zero during his work hours, as he would refuse to leave her to have Lelouch tutor him at his house. And Lelouch couldn't come into the office as himself during work hours. People would surely notice that whenever he was there, Zero was not. Which led to his current train of thought. Euphemia had asked Lelouch to reveal himself as Zero to Suzaku. While there had to be positives to this, all that came to mind were the negatives. That it might give Suzaku a reason to distrust Lelouch instead of trust Zero was his main concern. Then there was the fact that he'd probably be made to explain the Shikinejima incident. And added to that was the niggling feeling that if he told Suzaku, he should probably tell Tohdoh as well, due mostly to Suzaku's inability to lie if he was asked any questions by his former sensei. If he told Tohdoh, he'd then have to inform the other upper members of the Black Knights to keep their trust. And letting Kallen know that Zero was really one of her classmates, and that he was a Britannian prince was not high on his to-do list.

"You know, staring out that window won't force the paper work to do itself."

Even before she'd spoken, Lelouch knew who it was. The smell of Pizza Hut had permeated his office.

"You could always do you job," he retorted. Lelouch had been virtually forced to hire C.C. as his secretary. Her constant presence would have caused problems otherwise.

"What's the point?" she asked. "You'd just go over everything anyway to make sure I hadn't made a mistake. It would be a waste of both our times."

He frowned. The first part was certainly true. He refused to have any errors in anything he put in his out box. With a sigh, he sat back down at his desk. He could think on the matter of Suzaku during school tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Euphemia laid her head on her desk. It was almost 7:30 in the morning, meaning she'd started little more than an hour ago. She was beginning to regret listening to Cornelia's advice of starting at six. Even though it meant she did indeed beat the traffic in, she hated having to wake up at five in order to be here on time. Suzaku had suggested that she could change her hours if she disliked them so much, but Euphie rejected that idea. Many of the other workers in the Zone had the same hours she did, and she refused to be the spoiled little princess who got to sleep for an extra hour because she could. Besides, once she was at work she was no longer a princess. There was no such thing as royalty or nobility in the Zone. The only ones who got privileges were those who'd earned them. Even in her position as something akin to a mayor, she was not exempt from this.<p>

She lifted her head and looked over towards the door. Suzaku was not there today. She'd ordered him back to school, despite how much she liked his company. Euphemia would not be responsible for making her knight drop out of school. Even if he never needed to get a different job, every person deserved the right to an education. She also felt her family would not approve of her loving a boy who hadn't passed high school. She blushed and frowned at the same time. Her family was not likely to approve of Suzaku no matter what he did. Euphie turned to look out her window, mind filled with Suzaku.

She was broken out of her musings by a cloud of smoke and dust rising in the distance. It was quickly followed by a muffled explosion.

* * *

><p>"Come on, pick up," Euphemia mumbled to herself. She was sitting in the back of her most discrete car with her mobile to her ear, while her driver took her to the scene of the commotion.<p>

"You know, I've just started the classes you're forcing me to go to, despite them being unecessary. You'd better have a good reason for ringing me so many times."

"Lelouch," Euphie sighed in relief, ignoring his lack of a proper greeting before returning to business mode. "Are you somewhere you can talk?"

She could hear his shoes echo and a door close on the other end of the phone. "I am now," he said in a voice that reflected her own tone. "What's gone wrong?"

"There was an explosion in one of the residential development areas. I'm heading there now to assess the damage, but this is your area of expertise."

Lelouch swore. "When did this happen?"

"About ten minutes ago. Spot on 7:30, give or take a few seconds." Euphemia heard the door open and close again, followed by his echoing footsteps again.

"Get the police there. I want you to try and keep everyone calm and out of the area. Make sure there is as little disturbance to the scene as possible, and get any injured or deceased out of there and to a hospital. Hold any people you think questionable. I'm on my way now– I don't want to hear it!" Euphemia had begun to protest. "I'm in charge of the ZPF and all the security. I want to find out how a damn bomb made it inside those walls."

"You think it was intentional then?" She asked in a small voice.

"Of course it was," Lelouch replied tersely. "7:30 is peak traffic time. Everyone is trying to get to work, drop kids at school or get some early shopping in by eight. We're just lucky they didn't hit the CBD or school zone." Another door opened and closed. "I'm on my way to the Gawain. It'll get me there faster. Inform Suzaku of the situation. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Lelouch–" Euphemia started before cutting herself off. He'd hung up the phone. She frowned at the device in her hand. She would have been able to handle it without him rushing out to help, at least until the end of the day. She wasn't completely useless. But then she reasoned that he was probably more worried about the mistakes in his system that had allowed this to happen in the first place. He was a perfectionist, and this was a big mistake. Euphie sent Suzaku a message telling him to ring her when he had a break. She wasn't in any danger, she'd decided, and he needed to focus on his studies. She looked out the window at the confusion on the streets, and hoped in vain that no one had died in the blast.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So I kind of just split what was chapter 5 into two parts, partially because I felt that was a good place to stop it and partially because otherwise you'd all still be waiting. I got up to 4000 and something words before I realised I still wasn't finished. It's so much easier to write when there's something actually happening instead of just needing to give you information for future references but trying to make it remotely interesting (as in the last chapter).

Thanks to everyone for reviewing again :) Particularly MS-16 Jager and Worker72 for reviewing every chapter so far. It makes me happy.

**firelordzuko:** I can see where you're coming from, but had to have some things go nicely. And never forget that Lelouch has his own agendas for everything.

**undead3:** Glad you like my style. Is my spelling because I use Australian English or have I actually made typos? Let me know if I have. I endeavour to find all of them, but I'll undoubtedly miss some. And I have no idea what Oppello is. Unless you mean Othello?

**kaleydoscopeboy:** I agree completely. I thought it was silly that it came in just as he used the example instead after it caused him pain. And like I said to firelordzuko, I felt I had to make some things go well for them before it all hit the fan...

**MisterSP:** Thanks! That makes me feel so much better, really. It was the only one I looked up that I couldn't find on google. Dominican Republic makes much more sense.

**Yuriski-1st:** You'll just have to wait and see...

Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I'm that unoriginal I can't come up with a witty disclaimer. How was I ever supposed to make any part of the genius the is Code Geass.

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><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 6

Euphemia was stunned. She'd seen the work of terrorists. She'd seen the battle at Narita, and had witnessed the Lake Kawaguchi hotel jacking first hand. But those incidents were nothing like this. This was an attack purely meant to harm civilians. The road that had just been laid now appeared as a giant sink hole, its underground foundations in ruins. Buildings within a twenty metre radius were damaged or destroyed, either from the original blast or their foundations slipping into the hole. Pipes were exposed, some remains up to fifteen metres away. There were even portions on roofs, which lead Euphie to speculate the blast had indeed started in one of those pipes. The only positive was that the area was all still under construction. The water and sewage pipes had yet to be connected to the main lines, and only two or three of the apartment buildings in the area were close to completion. That didn't change facts though. Two construction workers had died. One had been caught in the land slip and buried under rubble and the other had fallen from the scaffolding he worked on. Another five had been injured, along with two civilians, hit when debris had flown over the site fence.

Due to the attack being in a construction site, keeping people away had been an easy job. The more difficult part was trying not to disturb anything while rescuing the workers. Some had fallen into the sink hole, breaking bones, while others were caught under fallen buildings. The paramedics, fire department and ZPF were swift and precise though, moving the debris only enough to excavate those trapped, then letting it fall back in to place to prevent the piles of rubble collapsing further.

Zero was on his way to the site, having left the Gawain outside the Zone with C.C. as protocol dictated. However, he had managed to acquire a motorbike somewhere, and so was still able to move quickly through the traffic jams that had come about as people tried to see what was going on. Euphemia had done as he'd asked and had those dead and injured taken to hospital, however she didn't know who would be classes as 'questionable'. In the end, she just asked all the people who had been present at the time if they would be willing to give any information they had to the investigators. Every single one of them agreed without hesitation, and indeed some with enthusiasm. It seemed her coming here herself had been a good decision after all.

A motor roared into earshot, and even through the gauze on the fence Euphie could see his cape billowing behind him as Zero sped through traffic. He slid the bike to a stop as he neared the fence, kicked down the stand and strode purposefully towards the gate. One of the ZPF members opened the gate as he approached, locking it closed after he had entered the site. Without even turning his head towards any of the police, ambulance or fire staff, Lelouch walked straight to her. Despite the situation, she felt a bit of pride at this.

"What details do you have on the situation?" he asked.

"Two dead," she replied, his downcast. "Seven injured, including two civilians. All others, including the deceased, were construction workers."

She stopped, waiting for him to comment or ask one of the police force for a report. She looked up when he did neither.

"I should have phrased that differently," he said. "What details have _you_ derived from the situation?"

She blinked. He wanted to know what she thought had happened? Surely it would be easier for him to take a look himself. Not to mention more accurate. But Zero just kept looking at her, not moving towards the explosion site, the ambulance vans or the witnesses. He was waiting for her response.

"Oh, uh," she started poorly. "I think the explosive was planted in the pipes somewhere."

He just kept looking at her, waiting for her to finish explaining the reasoning behind her deduction.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" he prompted when she didn't continue.

Lelouch was genuinely asking her what she thought happened. He wasn't doing it for show or to make her feel included, but because he wanted her input. Her brilliant brother, smarter than anyone she knew, was actually asking _her_, stupid, naïve little Euphie for her ideas. She felt that bit of pride swell again.

"Well, the first thing I noticed was that the foundations were blown away. But that could have happened from a surface explosive. Then the ambulance came and inspected the dead…" She paused to regain her composure. Getting upset over those who had died served no purpose at the moment. She could grieve for them later. "They inspected the dead and found that one was killed from flying debris. This is also how the civilians on the other side of the fence were injured. You can see the some pieces of the water distribution pipes still intact some distance away, which means that the explosive was below them. The force would have ripped them apart otherwise." She paused, seeing him look in the direction where she knew a 20cm cylinder of pipe was. "The pieces of sewage pipes I saw were not in such great shape. As well as being in smaller chunks, they were also blown higher. You can see some pieces in the scaffolding that is meant to be at least the 6th floor of the apartment. Then there's the underground foundations. I think you should look at these," she said as she began walking to the giant hole. She stopped at least five metres away from the edge. "It seems to have gouged out underneath the surface, creating instability. If we get any closer than this, it's likely to cave in and take us down with it. That was how the other man died…" Euphemia cast her eyes down again.

As Zero took in the damage, three member of the ZPF hurried over to him, their footfalls loud.

"Sir!" all three of them saluted. From inside the mask, Lelouch rolled his eyes. It was still difficult to get those from the military to stop saluting their senior officers. It was completely unnecessary in the police force.

"Report," he said crisply.

Euphie smiled a little as she watched Lelouch take command. It was something he was good at. The way he acted and spoke made people want to trust him, want to follow him. Even in this horrible situation, he was still calm, analysing every detail presented to him and probably coming up with ten solutions for each new fact. Cornelia's words suddenly flew into her mind and a horrible thought formed before she could stop it. 'With him and Suzaku by my side, I could do more for Britannia than Cornelia and Schneizel. I could become Empress.' Euphemia was horrified with herself. How could she think something like that? How could she think that she was better than her sister, better than Schneizel? She covered her mouth with her hands and took a step away from Lelouch in shock. She'd barely put the weight on her foot before the road beneath her cracked.

* * *

><p>Lelouch didn't think he'd ever moved so fast in his life. One moment he was discussing the witnesses with some members of his force, the next he had a terrified Euphemia wrapped in his arms, both kneeling on the ground. He didn't remember running towards her as he heard the ominous 'crack' of bitumen. He didn't remember reaching for her hands as she fell, crying out "Euphie!" He didn't even remember pulling her towards him, wrapping his arms around her as she sunk to her knees. All he remembered thinking was that they were on solid ground, and his next most precious sister was safe. It was only then he remembered that he was Zero, not Lelouch. He quickly released the princess, rocked back onto his heels and stood up. He reached a hand down, which she took daintily, and helped her up as any gentleman would do.<p>

After making sure that she was stable, he released her hand and walked over to the man he assumed was her driver, flagging down one of his own men along the way.

"I need you to take Her Highness back to her office," he addressed the driver. "She may be in a state of shock from the fall. Please call in a doctor to check her over."

"Sir," the man replied. "Would it not be better to take her back to her estate?"

"It would," Zero replied. "However, I am forbidden from entering the premises, and I will need to speak with her on matters of this situation once I have finished my initial investigation."

Lelouch frowned. There had to be someone closer to her than this man that wouldn't force her home. It was imperative that he talked to her immediately after he was finished. He also needed someone he could trust to watch out for her. Although the chance was slim, he didn't want to take any chances if terrorists had managed to get inside. When the idea came to him, he almost slammed his palm to his mask.

"Call her Knight as well. Suzaku should be able to help you." He turned to address the police officer. "I'm sorry to ask this, but I need you remain with Princess Euphemia until either Sir Kururugi or myself arrive. Understand that there can be no chances if terrorists have managed to infiltrate the Zone. And tell her not to leave until I get there."

"Of course, sir," he said in accented Britannian. "The princess is the one who founded this peaceful place. I will perform the task of protecting her with honour."

Lelouch smiled a little under his mask. Trust the Japanese to keep their formalities, even in a different language. He might need Suzaku to remind some of the Japanese members of the ZPF that they don't need to be so polite when speaking Britannian. Or just remind them that Zero can speak Japanese fluently.

As he turned and walked toward where the witnesses were gathered, Lelouch didn't noticed a man behind some rubble put a camera back in his bag.

* * *

><p>Euphemia was sitting calmly at her desk when Suzaku burst through the door.<p>

"Euphie!" He yelled as he ran across the threshold into her office, still dressed in his school uniform. "I got a call saying you'd had an accident. Are you hurt? What happened? Why are you in the office? You should have gone home!"

"Suzaku," she replied gently with a smile, attempting to calm his hysteric manner. "I'm perfectly fine. The only remotely bad thing that happened was a bit of dirt on my clothes that the maids will fuss over."

"But I was told by Geoffrey that you'd fallen down a hole made from an explosion. And you should have called me before you left to inspect the site, not just sent me a message saying to call you when I had a break! That's something important that I should be with you for!" he replied heatedly, glaring at her with a mix of anger and worry.

The princess glared right back. "It was not a situation that I deemed your presence necessary when you have other important duties to be fulfilling. The police were there before I was and had cleared the area for my entrance, and Zero arrived barely twenty minutes after myself. I was perfectly safe at all times, even on the drive home." She gestured to the officer standing next to the door.

"Excuse me, Your Highness," the officer started once he realised their attention was on him. "I was asked by Zero to remain with you until Sir Kururugi arrived, and to tell you that he will come to confer with you on the situation as soon as possible and that he requests you stay in the office until that time."

"He wants her to stay–"

"Thank you," Euphemia said to the man, cutting Suzaku off. "You are free to leave and return to your normal duties."

"Thank you, Your Highness," he replied, turning to the door.

"Oh, officer?"

He stopped and looked back at Euphie.

"Please remember that here, my only title is that of mayor. Addressing me as Euphemia is fine. Or Miss li Britannia, if my given name makes you uncomfortable." She added the last bit noticing the look on the officer's face at being asked to call her by her first name. It was only then she registered his accent. "Oh! Of course, you may refer to me as you would in Japanese as well. I apologise that my skills in languages are less developed than Zero's."

He looked a bit shocked to start with, then bowed as one would in the Japanese custom. "Of course, li Britannia-sensei. I shall inform my colleagues as well."

Euphemia waited until the door had closed behind the officer to address Suzaku again.

"I will be waiting here for Zero to arrive so we can discuss the incident. I have not been injured in any way, so there is no need for me to go home." Her face softened at the look on her knight's face. She reached out one of her delicate hands and placed it over his large, work-hardened one and looked up into his eyes. "Really, Suzaku. I'm ok. I promise."

Suzaku sighed and smiled a bit, taking Euphemia's hand in his. "Can you tell me what happened then?"

"It wasn't anything really," she said. "I just got a little too close to the edge, and the road gave way. Zero pulled me away before my shoes even got level with the ground."

"Zero did?" he asked, intrigued. He had a small suspicion as to who Zero might be, but if Zero had pulled Euphie out of danger, there was no way it could be who he thought. Lelouch was completely inept at anything physical. "I will have to thank him for keeping you safe in my absence."

Euphemia giggled a little. "If you do that, his head might grow a bit."

Suzaku laughed as well, and the two soon fell back into their comfortable way of conversation.

* * *

><p>Lelouch was fuming as he made his way in to the office building around midday. He had asked all of the survivors of the attack whether they had seen anyone around the area over the past week. While they had given him a list of description of different people, every single one of them was part of the construction company. And he <em>knew<em> it wasn't possible for anyone to bring in explosives or explosive ingredients. Rakshata personally checked the filters at least once every two days, often more frequently. He had ruled out the culprits buying fireworks from a vendor and modifying them. No matter what they did, it couldn't have formed a blast with that much power. It completely destroyed a section of the sewers, and managed to blast its way through the five to six meters of ground, piping and bitumen that was above it. The only option left was that someone came in to the Zone before it was opened, and planted it there. It would have been easy enough to set off with a remote.

But then why blow up a residential area? It would have been more in line with their goals to target the police academy or CBD. And they clearly hadn't been able to send anyone in to check everything before hand; otherwise they would have known the area was still under construction and would cause hardly any casualties. Unless their goal was the disruption of the Zone instead of death? That could have been it, but they were very poor planners if that was the case. They would have been better off targeting the business areas still under construction. They are what allow the Zone to function.

Lelouch went to run his hands through his hair in frustration, coming short when they met his mask. He would talk to Euphemia and get some ideas out of her. They would need a map of the sewage lines to see whether there was the possibility that the terrorists had just got lost when they placed the bomb. He would need to call on some members of the Black Knights too. The possible culprits could be anyone. The Japanese could see the Zone as a bone, given to a dog to stop it bothering you. Britannians could see it as a rebellion against their very foundations, giving something to those weaker than you, to lesser people. Honorary Britannians could be resentful of the Zone. Everything they sacrificed in order to get a better life now meant nothing. Japanese were free to live as Japanese, but they some still saw Honorary Britannians as the dogs of Britannia. It was a very complicated web that Lelouch would need to solve.

He was bought out of his thoughts when the elevator dinged, and the doors opened to the level with Euphemia's office. He strode forward, stopping only to open the door. The scene it opened to was a faintly amusing one. Euphie and Suzaku had obviously been chatting to each other quite happily, as she still had a smile on her face. Suzaku had jumped in front of her desk and partially drawn his sword before he recognised the person walking in. He glared half-heartedly at Zero and he re-sheathed his sword.

"You're meant to knock before you enter a room."

"And you're meant to be dressed before you come to work," Zero retorted, giving a pointed look to the school uniform folded neatly on a chair to the side. "But we're both bound to slip up occasionally, so we'll both let it slide for now. There are more important matters to be discussing anyway."

Euphemia stood up as both men made their way over to her desk.

"Shall we have our discussion in the conference room? We're less likely to be disturbed there," she said, making her way around her large desk.

Lelouch nodded, and followed the princess as she led the way, Suzaku walking behind her, half a step to the right.

* * *

><p>"Those were my findings after investigating the site and questioning the witnesses," said Zero. He had just presented the information he had gathered to both Euphemia and Suzaku. He was going to ask for their speculations on what may have happened before he gave his own. It would be preferable for Euphie to be able to think on her own rather than just agree with what he proposed. She had a good mind for these types of things, even if she was hopeless at strategy and chess.<p>

"Suzaku," she said, turning to her knight. "Would you be able to find out who has the area plans for the Zone? Including the ones before we expanded it. If possible, I would like you to bring them all here."

"Sure," he replied, standing up from his position at the table. He gave Zero a quick look before turning back to his princess. "I'll be right back."

Lelouch gave Euphie a curious look as Suzaku walked out.

She sighed before speaking. "It would be easier for all of us if you just let him know who you are."

Ah. So she had noticed the look he'd been given as well. "Was that your reason for sending him out?"

Euphemia blinked. "No, actually. I have a feeling that area was originally designated to be part of the CBD in the early days. The layout of the Zone had to be redesigned to cope with the amount of people that applied. I never imagined there would be so many."

Lelouch frowned. "So you think they were actually aiming to harm civilians?"

His sister balked. "Well…" she started, unsure. "I'm not certain, but the place that was bombed seemed a bit of a silly target to me. If they were aiming to make an impact like the JLF at Lake Kawaguchi, they would have aimed for somewhere with more people."

"Do you think it was Britannians or Japanese that instigated it?"

"I… I don't know. I've never come across any Britannian terrorists before, so I don't know what they'd be likely to do."

Zero paused to think over her words. That was true on his behalf as well. He knew Britannia's military strategies, but he wasn't sure if he'd ever come across any Britannian terrorists. As a people, they would almost be non-existent. Why resort to terrorism when your country tells you to just take what you want from those weaker than you?

Suzaku returned quickly with the map plans, each printed on transparent paper. They laid them down across the table, pinning the newest one to the bottom and marking the bomb site in red. More plans were then laid over the top over the first, progressing from newest to oldest. When a map six months old was placed down, Lelouch swore.

The red dot marking the attack on the current area plan lined up perfectly with the centre of the CBD of the plan on top. They had clearly found what the terrorists had been targeting.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

So I got distracted from my writing and uni work by a wonderful manga called Kuroshitsuji, or 'Black Butler'. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do. It's amazing. Even has one of my favourite people in it (^○^). Claps for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Also, if anyone likes Avatar, The Legend of Korra is out (any chance I have of getting work done is now out the window).

Thank you all for reviewing. Still makes me happy (even more so than the amount of people adding this to their alert and favourites lists). Thanks to everyone for your comments. I'm glad you all like it, and that my attempt at being sneaky with the bombers actually worked. You'll find out who they are in the next chapter or two. And to MS-16 Z Jager, I feel as though she would never actually make the decision without some pushing. Lelouch is the water, and he needs to do some manipulating to help her grow in the right direction.

Lot's of assessment this week (one piece for each subject), so more than likely no update over the next week. Hopefully the length of this one kind of makes up for it.

Thanks guys!

~Kasai


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Code Geass. If I did, I'd be making more TV shows instead of writing fanfiction.

Sorry I didn't have this out earlier. Got distracted by Easter and chocolate. And just in case people don't read the author note at the bottom, I'm changing my update schedule to every fortnight at the most. Means I have more time to do everything better (writing included).

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><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 7

Lelouch was lying on his bed, fist clenched around a stress ball he had discovered in the Student Council room. He had _known_ the Zone wasn't going to work as peacefully as Euphie wanted. He had known that there would be people from all walks of life against it. Hell, he'd researched it meticulously even before she'd made her announcement, having considered it as one of his own original plans. And yet, he'd still gone along with it. All because his little half sister had somehow wormed her naivety and optimism into him, clouding his solid logic. For a while, Lelouch had actually started to believe that he could make Euphemia Empress without shedding the blood of innocents. He had actually started to believe in Suzaku's ideal of changing Britannia from within. He had actually started to believe that Britannia could be changed peacefully if one of the leaders did their job and led by example, and that over time all of Britannia would follow suit, and that the Emperor would step down. How foolish he had been. How easily swayed by Euphie's very nature he was. But no more. He would not wait for that man to step down. The Emperor probably would have had her killed before that happened anyway. No, Lelouch would do what he'd always dreamed and kill the man with his own hands. He would cut down all opponents, paving the way for Euphemia to become Empress. He would stain his hands with blood so that she remained innocent and pure, creating a world in which Nunnally could live peacefully and without fear.

"Tch". A noise of discontent made its way through his lips.

He needed to work out a way to convince his little half sister to bring down Britannia before he moved on to the bigger tasks.

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><p>Unbeknownst to her, Euphemia was in a similar position to her brother. Lying down on her bed, she flicked through the papers she had scattered about her. Lelouch had told her to relax until he could dig up some more information, and she was – kind of. Looking through the profiles of the people who would have had access to that particular map wasn't exactly strenuous…<p>

She sighed and went to start on the next pile when a door slammed. A quick glance at her alarm clock told her it was only 3:30, far too early for Cornelia to be home. Euphie got up and opened her door, about to ask loudly who it was, only to see Guilford two steps away with his hand half raised in a knock. That certainly answered her unspoken question.

Guilford cleared his throat. "Princess Cornelia would like a meeting with you in her study, your highness."

Euphie blinked and looked down at her casual attire. "Oh, of course. Tell her I'll be down in a minute."

Guilford left and she closed her door. While changing into something more appropriate for a 'meeting', she wondered what it was her sister wanted to say. Obviously it was about the attack, but any questions she had should have been answered in the report Euphie had personally written and sent before going home for the day. And any personal questions wouldn't require a meeting. The same went for any criticisms of Zero or Suzaku, which were unfortunately common. Mildly curious, she made her way down the grand stairs of the Viceroy's palace to Cornelia's study.

Euphemia always felt 'war room' served as a better name than 'study' for the space. As she entered, she noticed multiple maps spread over the tables, with markers placed in groups defining different battalions and battle strategies. Personally, Euphie hated that kind of thing, but knew it was where her sister's passion lie, so said nothing, though she did frown at a map that looked suspiciously like the EU. Of her knowledge, Schneizel's talks with them were going quite well.

Her attention was drawn back to Cornelia as she turned to face her younger sister.

"Due to today's incident, I feel it necessary to place military presence inside the Specially Administrated Zone."

Euphemia was too stunned to say anything.

"Tomorrow I shall mobilise the required squadrons, and by the next day you should have at least 50 Sutherlands defending your perimeters. I will–"

"You can't do that," Euhpie finally interrupted. "For one, it's against protocol to have Knightmares in the SAZ. And that–"

"Protocol can be changed," Cornelia said sternly.

Euphemia continued in a loud voice as if her sister hadn't said anything. "And that's not including the fact that they will be Britannian Military Knightmares in what is essentially a neutral territory. It would terrify the citizens and undo all the good we've done."

"I will not sacrifice my little sister and a princess of Britannia just for some Elevens' peace of mind. The stupid monkeys were probably the ones to instigate the attack anyway."

The younger sister bristled. "You don't know that! The issue has been discussed at length and it could have just as easily been Britannian terrorists. We are investigating the matter personally–"

"And while you do that my knightmares with prevent further incidents," the elder justified.

"No!" Euphemia almost yelled, slamming her hands down on one of the tables. "Even if you are vicereine, according to the laws of the SAZ you must follow the same process as everyone else. That means getting administrative approval from those in charge. Even if I did approve, which I don't," she added, seeing her sister about to speak out again. "I would still have to confer with Zero on the decision. And there is absolutely no way he would allow _any_ military presence inside the boundaries."

"Those boundaries encompass a 10km radius around the Zone itself!" Cornelia exclaimed. "You expect me to leave the safety of my little sister to someone who has already killed at least one member of our family? It would be a simple matter for him to have you dead in a minute. He's probably in cahoots with those filthy Elevens, taking everything Britannia so mercifully offered them, even after they lost, and throwing it back in our faces."

"Has it ever occurred to you that you might be wrong, sister!" Euphemia was breathing heavily, her face red with fury. "Has it ever occurred to you that Britannia, in all its glory, with all its superiority, might be wrong! Those not born Britannian are not lesser people because of that fact. We are all born equal, but not in equal circumstances, and despite what father says we are not better. We are simply lucky."

The elder sister stared at the younger one in wide-eyed shock, before narrowing her gaze. "That comes awfully close to treason, Euphie."

"If speaking the truth is treason, then maybe Britannia needs to change." Euphie turned on her heel and went to exit the room, only to stop in the doorway. "You will not send military forces in to the Specially Administrated Zone," she said without turning to face Cornelia. "If you ignore my authority, your soldiers had better be prepared to accept the consequences you bought on them."

* * *

><p>To say Suzaku was startled to hear Euphemia ringing him in tears was an understatement. After ascertaining that she wasn't physically harmed or in any danger, he listened to her hiccough and sniffle filled confession about how she and her sister had argued and she'd said some horrible things. He wasn't quite sure what to do. Suzaku didn't really know how to deal with crying girls, or anything about fights with siblings. That was probably something Lelouch was better at.<p>

He almost heard the light bulb flash on in his head.

"Euphie," he said, interrupting her third repetition of how she was such a horrible sister. "Why don't I come pick you up, and we can head over to Lelouch's. That way you won't have to see Cornelia and you'll be able to relax for a while."

"Oh," she said. "Suzaku that would be wonderful. Thank you so much."

He blushed and mumbled something along the line of 'no problem, I'll leave now', and looked at his phone after she hung up on him. He sighed and dialled Lelouch's number, figuring it'd be best to inform him that his sister would be coming for a visit.

* * *

><p>"Wait, what?" Lelouch said ineloquently over the phone.<p>

A sigh came through the other end. "I told you," said Suzaku. "Euphie's been having a bad day and I thought coming to see you two would cheer her up. I know I should have asked if you were busy first, but it came out of my mouth as soon as it popped into my head."

Lelouch sighed as well. "It's not that I mind you both coming. Nunnally will be ecstatic." Both points were true. "It's just… Did you even consider the logistics? School has only just finished for the day and most students will be starting their club activities for the afternoon. Those don't finish for another two hours so the grounds won't be clear until at least 6:00, and even then there will be boarders mulling about the campus before dinner."

"But what about your secret entrances? You know, the ones you use to skip class so often…"

Lelouch let out another long breath. There was no way he was getting out of this.

"Fine," he agreed. "But she's not stepping foot on campus until at least 6:30. Actually, make that 7:00. Less chance of being caught that way. And you can both have dinner with us."

"Oh, that's great, thanks Lelouch," Suzaku replied, both relieved and appreciative. "I can just drive around with her for a bit while we wait. I'll give you a call at quarter to."

"Alright, I'll hear from you then." Lelouch hung up his phone and sighed again.

He's planned to have a meeting with Kallen and a few of the other Black Knights tonight to send feelers out on both sides, wanting to see if they could get any information on the terrorists who'd attacked the Zone. But, he supposed, a phone call to just Kallen would do. She would probably enjoy giving out a few orders after he'd made her play nice with the Britannians all this time. He had to admit she was good at it though. Had most of them eating out of her hands in under three weeks.

Looking at his watch he was tempted to sigh for the fourth time since talking to Suzaku, but resisted. He had just over two and a half hours to call and explain the plan to Kallen, prepare dinner and make sure his work was hidden where Suzaku wouldn't see it. Lelouch could do that.

_First things first_, he thought, and walked into the lounge room where his sister was diligently folding paper cranes.

"Nunnally," he said.

"Yes big brother?" She turned her face questioningly towards him, even though she couldn't see.

"We're having some guests over for dinner tonight. I'll be going out for a bit to get things prepared for their arrival."

"Oh, really? Who's coming?" she asked sweetly.

Lelouch laughed kindly. "It's no fun if I tell you, but I promise you'll enjoy it." He laughed again as she pouted a little. "Call me if you need anything, ok?"

She nodded and he exited to the room to find Sayoko. He informed her of their guests and asked her to set the table for dinner, but not to tell Nunnally who they were. If he had to change his plans, he could at least make it something fun for his little sister.

* * *

><p>Kallen looked at her phone from over the top of the magazine she was reading as it rang. Not being able to see who the caller was, she rose with a groan from the comfortable position on her bed, only to gasp in surprise at the ID. Zero hadn't initiated contact with her since he began his job at the Zone. She was always the one to call and report in on the status of her mission. Not that it required her doing too much anymore. She quickly snatched up the phone and pressed the button to answer.<p>

"Kallen," he answered.

She repressed a sigh. How she'd missed his silvery, commanding voice. "Yes, Zero-sama."

"I'm sure by now you've already heard of the incident that occurred today."

Ah, he was talking about the bombing. The only way she could have not heard about it was if she avoided technology completely. Even then she thought she may have already seen it in one of those quick-print newspapers that got around.

"Of course, but the details weren't very clear." In fact, some of the rumours ranged from a faulty firework to the ZPF academy being destroyed.

"Two fatalities, nine injured. We were surprisingly lucky. Whoever planned the attack didn't have the most up-to-date information. That's where I need you."

_Yes_, she thought to herself, _finally something interesting_.

"I need you to gather a few trusted people who can dig up information. We don't know yet whether the attackers were Japanese or Britannian. Their job will be to suss out the ghettos and find out what they can on the attack. I need you to handle the Britannian side of things. Get what information you can from the nobles, and I'll find someone who can act as ears in the military. Have all of them report to you."

"Yes, Zero-sama," she responded.

"I don't know when I'll be free so wait for me to contact you. If you haven't heard from me in a week, give your report to Euphemia. I'll talk to you later."

She was about to make a noise of protest before she heard the dial tone in her ear. He'd hung up on her.

Glaring at the phone, she threw it on her bed. Why should she have to tell that _princess_ how her work was progressing? What made her so special that she was privy to Zero's plans? They were getting along just fine before she ever appeared. Sure she was kind, and sweet, and cheerful, and polite… Kallen sighed as she realised there really wasn't a legitimate reason to dislike Euphemia besides her overt girliness. She was just jealous. Jealous that her place as Zero's right hand was being replaced. Jealous that she'd been swept to the side by a Britannian princess.

* * *

><p>"Lelouch!" Euphie squealed delightedly as she threw her arms around her brother.<p>

Lelouch stood there awkwardly, his arms trapped beneath her embrace. "Hello Euphie."

When she let go, Lelouch indicated behind him with his head. "Come on, Nunnally's waiting. Although, I didn't tell her who it was that was coming for dinner. Thought I'd make your visit a surprise."

Euphemia clapped like a little girl and Suzaku just smiled as they made their way back to the clubhouse through the underground passageway.

Sayoko opened the door for them as they reached the end, and bowed without saying a word. Nunnally was sitting in her wheelchair just behind her.

"Hey there Nunnally," said Suzaku, walking over to give her a hug.

Nunnally beamed. "Suzaku! It's been so long since you came to visit," she said, holding her arms out for his embrace.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I've been busy though," he replied.

"Yes, I've heard. Lelouch always complains that you're not at school as much as you should be." She giggled a little. "But you're Euphie's knight, so you have to stay with her. Did she give you the night off so you could have dinner with us?"

Euphemia had quietly made her way beside Nunnally and slipped her hand into her younger sister's. "Not quite," she said, smiling as Nunnally face brightened even further.

"Sister Euphie! I should have known it was you two coming. It's not often brother goes through the trouble of hand-making everything for dinner."

Suzaku and Euphie both laughed at Lelouch's slightly mortified expression. He hadn't particularly wanted that piece of information shared.

"Well then," said Suzaku, taking the handles of Nunnally's chair. "We'd better go eat it so it doesn't get cold, shouldn't we?"

* * *

><p>Lelouch began clearing the table of dessert when Euphie jumped up.<p>

"Oh, here let me help," she said, and began collecting the cutlery.

"It's alright, Euphie," Lelouch replied. "Really, it's not that hard."

"No, I want to. I'll help you wash up too." She collected the rest of the items Lelouch hadn't already stacked and made her way towards the kitchen. Lelouch sighed and followed.

"I'll dry if you wash?" Euphemia stated more than asked, eyeing the amount of plates with a certain dislike.

"You know," he said, filling the sink with water and detergent, "you really don't have to help. You should go talk to Nunnally. She's missed you."

She poked her head back out the door and looked into the other room. Suzaku and Nunnally were both smiling. "She's fine with Suzaku for the moment. Besides, I wanted to talk to you."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "What about?"

"Well…" his half sister started. "It's just something I've been thinking about. And I've thought it for a while. That Britannia needs to change."

The dark haired boy nodded his head as he washed a bowl, while inside gears were turning.

"I know that we've already discussed it," she continued. "We both agreed to that when we decided to make the Specially Administrated Zone work. But I had an argument with Cornelia this afternoon, and it made me change my mind a little."

Lelouch passed the bowl to Euphemia to dry and picked up the next plate, narrowing his eyes at it slightly. Had Cornelia managed to change her mind on becoming empress? He didn't doubt that was possible. If his bubblegum haired sister had mentioned their goals…

"We can't wait as long as we were going to. We can't wait for father to pass away."

He stopped and looked at his sister. Her hands, wrapped in a tea-towel, were firmly gripping the bowl she was drying.

"Sister and father, and most likely the rest of our family as well, cannot see that Britannia needs changing. They cannot see that what they are doing to other people is wrong. They cannot see that they are wrong. That Britannia is wrong."

Lelouch's eyes widened. Isn't this the exact idea he had been planning to push onto Euphemia? That they could not wait until the emperor died of natural causes to put their plan into action? This was perfect. All he needed to do now was slip some of his own ideas in. Having already come to the decision herself, she would be more likely to accept them. He allowed a small smile to grace his lips.

"You are right, Euphie," he said, passing her another plate. She looked at him with wide eyes as if she didn't believe he would agree. "The Emperor, and the Britannia he helped build are corrupt. They make the strong stronger, and the weak weaker. They do not care for those who come from unfortunate circumstances, those who don't have power from the moment they are born, those who are innocent and simply caught up in the mess Britannia created. Odysseus, Guinevere, Carine, even Cornelia are all products of this Britannia. They have grown up believing Britannian is the only race worthy of being, and all those who aren't barely deserve to be called human at all. It is not their fault," he said quickly, seeing the beginning of a frown as he talked about her beloved sister in such a way. "The Emperor raised them in such a way that they had no reason to doubt this. They were not exposed to the injustices that Britannia brings upon those it deems no longer useful, like I was. They do not have a heart full of kindness and compassion for others, like you do. They were not raised in a different culture only to have it ripped away, like Suzaku. They cannot help what they are, because they are what the Emperor of Britannia made them."

"Then we cannot allow that Britannia to continue. We must somehow persuade father to stand down, and let someone else take the throne."

"Not possible," Lelouch rebutted. "The Emperor will not be persuaded. He lets nothing stand in his way, and removes everything he deems unnecessary."

Euphemia could see in his eyes that he was thinking about his mother and sister. He put the plate in his hands back into the sink.

"Even if he did step down, you're what, eighteenth in line to the throne?" He turned to look at her. She didn't like the look in his eyes. "No. You are the one who needs to take the title of 99th Empress of Britannia. Everyone else is corrupt. They will simply continue doing what the Emperor did, and destroy all other nations until they are ruled by one dominion. You are the one who needs to take up that mantle."

Euphemia looked terrified. She didn't want to have to hurt anybody to make the world a better place. But somewhere she knew that Lelouch was right. That the Emperor must be dethroned as soon as possible, and that the only ones who would change Britannia for the better were her or Schneizel. And since Schneizel could easily play them both for fools, it left just one option. He face turned from horrified to shocked when Lelouch bowed on one knee in front of her.

"You are the kind and pure person that Britannia needs to lead it, and I will not be the one to taint you. Allow Suzaku to be your shield protecting you from all evils, both outside and in, and allow me to be the sword, cutting down all in your way, even that which you do not perceive. I ask many things of you, but there are two that are most important to be. First is that you never forget my reason wanting you as Empress, which is to create a world in which Nunnally can live peacefully, happily and without fear. Second, is that you do not interfere with any retribution I bring to those who had a hand in my mother's death."

Euphie was too shocked to say anything. The malice in her brother's voice when he said that last sentence chilled her. He truly hated most of the Royal family, and would not rest until he uncovered the truth and gave each person responsible their punishment.

"Lelouch–" Suzaku interrupted, poking his head around the corner only to see his friend on one knee in front of his Princess.

Lelouch stood up, holding a spoon. "Ah, I dropped it," he said, in a lightly self-admonishing tone. "Now I'll need to wash it again. Did you need something Suzaku?"

"Uh," he said, blanking. "Uh, no. Nana and I were just wondering if you and Euphie were finished with the dishes yet."

Euphemia blinked away her shock at the sudden change in her brother's demeanour and regained her composure.

"We're almost done," she said sweetly, gesturing at the large pile of dishes she didn't even realise she'd dried.

Suzaku walked up and took the towel from her hands. "Here, I'll finish up. You go talk with Nunnally."

She relinquished her hold of the cloth. "Sure," she said, heading for the lounge room Nunnally had moved in to. She turned her head back a little to face the boys. "And Lelouch, my answer is yes."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **In case you didn't read the note at the top, I'm changing update schedule to at most one a fortnight, but at the very least once a month. Need more time for life. If you need something to read while waiting for mine (and for some God unknown reason haven't already read it), read Allora Gale's _Dauntless_. Absolutely incredibly. Or if you're by chance a Naruto fan, _Quietus_ by AngeLhearteD is also really good. Extremely AU (as in Greek Gods), but really good. Onto thing actually related to my story.

So it occurred to me (thanks to Specterman626) that there's a couple of acronyms I used which I haven't explained. ZPF means Zone Police Force (I got lazy with that one), and CBD means Central Business District. CBD is used fairly frequently where I live, but I'm not sure if it's an international thing or just an Australian thing. I'll admit we do shorten everything (ambos, firies, popo/coppers, posties, sparkies, brickies etc etc…), so forgive me if I use something and you don't know what it is. Just let me know and I'll either explain or change it.

Worker72: Rolo isn't ready for an appearance just yet, but he might be soon…

Undead3: True, they should have gone for a more specific time, like 7:23 or something, but then they'd all need to be synced perfectly down to seconds and make sure the watches keep the same time and ugh… Too many variables.

Kaleydoscopeboy: I agree. Three of them could have worked so well together in the anime… But then I wouldn't have been able to write this. I actually enjoy thinking about what they really would have done in the given situations. Partially why it takes me so long to write each chapter. I think of so many different scenarios for them, and then can only pick one or two.

Century Exai: Thanks! Your feedback is always appreciated :)

MS 16: I realised I replied to your review when I edited chapter six… Not sure if you've read it or not but I'll post it up here anyway. I feel as though she would never actually make the decision without some pushing. Lelouch is the water, and he needs to do some manipulating to help her grow in the right direction. Hopefully that's come through a little better in this chapter.

400 words of author note later and I'm signing off.

Thanks guys!

~Kasai


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do this just for fun, and don't get any money from it. Please don't sure me.

So turns out life required a hell of a lot more of my time than I thought it would. Sorry for the two month wait (my excuses are in the author notes), and enjoy Chapter 8 :)

* * *

><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 8

Suzaku watched his princess disappear from sight before picking up a plate from the clean pile and wiping it dry.

"So what was it she was saying yes to?" he asked in a would-be casual manner.

Lelouch smirked. "She was talking about some holding a ball or gala of some description to lift peoples' spirits after the attack today. I merely asked her if she would consent to allow me to accompany her."

Suzaku nodded before registering what his friend had said, proceeding to apparently choke on air. "You- She- What?"

Even with all his self control, Lelouch couldn't suppress the tiny scoff of laughter that passed over his lips.

"Really Suzaku," he said, returning to scrubbing plates. "Think before you react. She would have at least discussed the idea with you on the way here before she told me a word of it. And even then, why would I want to accompany Euphemia of all people to a very public gala? I'd be shipped off to Britannia within minutes."

Suzaku frowned lightly at Lelouch, a hint of red showing on his face. "You don't need to joke about things like that."

"Sure I do" he countered quickly. "You're smitten with my little sister. I can make as many jokes at your expense as I want. It's what older brothers do, isn't it?"

Suzaku flushed a deeper shade of red and asked the original question again. "So what was it she said yes to?"

Lelouch let out a light sigh. "Nothing for you to be particularly concerned about. Just some family stuff."

* * *

><p>The car pulled up to the front and the house and Euphemia was ready and waiting.<p>

"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Suzaku asked.

Euphie nodded. "Positive. I don't even plan to confront my sister until tomorrow at the earliest. With any luck I can avoid that until after…" she trailed off.

"Until after you've talked with Zero." Suzaku's voice had hardened.

"Oh Suzaku," Euphemia said patiently. "I wish you'd be able to trust him. He really is trying to help."

"We'll see," he relented with a sigh. "He's getting better so we'll see."

Euphie smiled and leaned over to give her knight a hug. "Thank you," she said before moving back and opening her door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She stepped out of the car and closed the door behind her, watching it drive away before she turned toward the palace doors. Schooling her features, she strode purposefully up the stairs and into the foyer. Cornelia was waiting for her with an unhappy expression, as expected.

"Where have you been?" she demanded. "It's almost midnight. I was close to sending out the military police to look for you."

Euphemia glared a little as she spoke. "It would have been a simple enough task to call, or even send me a text message. I am no longer a child that needs to be followed wherever she goes. As for where I was, Suzaku picked me up and we had dinner together with some of his friends from the student council." Seeing her sister about to voice her dislike, Euphie ended the conversation. "I'm rather tired and have a full day of work tomorrow, so I will be retiring for the evening. Goodnight sister."

Cornelia could only stand and watch as her younger sibling walked up the stairs and to her room. She was beginning to be problematic. If this continued, their father might not be so lenient. Someone had to talk some sense into her. Someone with a logical mind that could not be argued with. Cornelia turned and walked in the direction of her study. She had a phone call to make.

* * *

><p>A young boy sighed as he turned the pages of a newspaper. He hadn't read a great deal of it—only up to the eighth page—but he soon folded and placed it on a low table to the left of his chair. Picking up another from the pile on his right, he started the process again. The stack on his right contained everything from reliable newspapers to gossip magazines, but each front cover had a picture of the same young woman with her arms open and a great smile on her face.<p>

Sighing, he folded the last newspaper and added it to the tower that had formed on his left.

"All that trouble and hardly a disturbance," he said to himself. "You'd think they'd at least be able to do something right with the information they got. But I suppose I can't expect too great of an intelligence when they lost the war."

Jumping up from his chair, he strolled along the edge of the room, his cape and hair trailing behind him.

"I should have known better than to trust the judgement of fools. Nobles would have been a worse choice, but I expected former military men to have some experience in the area. Particularly when I virtually gave them everything they needed.

"It took months for just one of my men to infiltrate that design team, and even then they couldn't get the data straight away. Zero definitely planned for the possibility of Geass users breaking into the files. Too bad he doesn't fully understand the power of the kings. So many different ways for it to manifest…"

The child-man turned his head to the door and motioned for the attendant to come.

"Call Gamma and Romeo. I have a new task for them."

* * *

><p>The screen was a black square while Cornelia waited impatiently for the recipient to answer her call, fingernail tapping on her desk. She relaxed a little when a familiar face filled the screen.<p>

"Schneizel," she greeted with a slight bow of her head.

"Cornelia, good morning to you. Or should I say good night? It has to be midnight in Area 11 at the moment. Ah, but I see you are not in the mood for pleasantries," he replied, noting the lack of amusement on his sister's face at his dismal joke.

"I'll cut to the chase. I'm having some problems Schneizel, and I would like to discuss them with you. You are… more adept at working amicably with people than I am."

"Of course I'll help you sister. I am a little surprised you can't work it out yourself though. Usually you have no problem dealing with people." He smiled in a way that insinuated her usual way of dealing with people who displeased her. "May I ask who it is that is causing you grief?"

Cornelia frowned at him. "It's Euphie."

"Ah," said Schneizel. "Now I see why you have a problem. What has she done that you needed to call me? I do hope it isn't something silly like professing her love for her knight to you."

"She would never—" Cornelia stopped and regained control. "That is not what I wanted to talk to you about. I believe that Zero may be putting ideas into her head. She said something very close to treason earlier today."

The Prime Minister of Britannia raised an eyebrow. "Did she really? What was it, exactly, that she said?"

The vicereine closed her eyes as if it pained her to say the next words. "She said Britannia was wrong. She said everyone is equal, and that we were just lucky." Cornelia opened her eyes again, only for them to be filled with anger. "She said that we are equal to the filthy Elevens. To the scum that don't accept the hospitality we've shown them since winning the war. To those—" She cut herself off noticing the look on her brother's face. "What?"

"Have you ever wondered why we were stronger than Japan?" Schneizel stated simply. "What it is that makes us better than those in the Arab Nations? If Britannia is so mighty, why negotiate with the EU?"

"What are you saying, brother?"

"I'm saying that Euphemia might have the right idea. We defeated Japan because we were lucky enough to have more resources. We were able to obtain Area 18 because our homeland is not a desert. And we negotiate with the EU because they _are_ our equals. If we were to start a war with them, we would lose. It is only Britannia's fearsome reputation and my careful discussions with their leaders that we have saved ourselves that fate. Euphemia is right. The only reason we are where we are now is because we are lucky."

Cornelia was speechless. Euphemia believing that was one thing. Her sister was almost dangerous in her naivety. But Schneizel was logical. He had sound reasons for every decision he made, and never played a game he couldn't win.

"If we gave them the same chances we had, how do you think they would fair, sister? If we gave them the chance—at education, at employment, at life in general—how do you think they would fair?"

"They wouldn't," Cornelia replied immediately. "They are unintelligent. They wouldn't be able to comprehend what was taught to them. They don't understand simple concepts like hierarchy and respect."

Schneizel smiled a little. "You are basing that on what you've seen over there and what you were told by father, aren't you. You haven't researched into the history of Japan. The culture, language and people are all highly respectful, and the social hierarchy is predominately what decides the levels of respect and humbleness that needs to be shown. The do not respect us because we do not respect them. They are just as intelligent as we are Cornelia. They just haven't been lucky enough to get the chance to prove it."

"Then what is it you suggest, brother," she asked in a distasteful tone. "Even if what you say is correct, if Euphie keeps talking like that father will not let it stand."

"Perhaps it is not Euphemia that needs to change, but Britannia. The basis of our country's belief is due to conditioning. It can be fairly easily remedied."

"Are you suggesting a coup d'état? Now that _is _treason, Schneizel, and I will oppose you if you act."

"Have you not noticed that father is rarely at the palace?" Schneizel questioned. "When was the last time he granted you an audience? As a vicereine, you are meant to have an audience with the emperor every quarter."

Cornelia stopped to think. She had held the position of vicereine for almost ten months now, yet she had never had an audience with the emperor.

"I am supposed to have an audience with him once a month as part of my duties as Prime Minister," said Schneizel. "I've had two in the past six months. Every other time I've been forced to converse with Bismarc on issues of state.

"I feel that the emperor is taking no interest in his country. If he doesn't care for his country or his people, then he should not continue to be emperor."

"Who would you suggest then?" Cornelia asked venomously. "Would you take up the position?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead sister," Schneizel replied calmly. "I am hoping that the emperor has merely found something to occupy himself with and will return to his duties soon."

The vicereine eyed him warily. "None of this solves my issue with Euphie though. She wouldn't even let me place Knightmares around the Specially Administrated Zone as protection. She trusts the Zero too much."

"And now we see where the problem really is," he said with a slight smile. "Euphie wants to play nice with someone you don't. She has her knight to protect her, doesn't she?"

"Suzaku Kururugi is Japanese, and can be compromised due to his heritage."

Schneizel sighed. "I'll give her a call and see what I can do. I can't promise anything though. That Zone is fairly sound and there aren't too many loopholes in the fine print."

"Thank you, Schneizel. I appreciate your efforts."

"Good night, Cornelia," he replied before hanging up.

* * *

><p>"Delta, Romeo, this is your new assignment," V.V. said, handing them each separate folders.<p>

"The last attempt at infiltrating and disrupting the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan failed. I trust you two will not bear the same results."

"No, my Lord," they replied.

"Good. Familiarise yourself with your tasks. You fly out in four hours."

With that, V.V. left the men perusing their mission details.

The one labelled Romeo flicked through the pages of his folder. He and Delta were to play the part of a father and son. They had recently moved from the homeland to the SAZ for the better employment opportunities it afforded his 'father' Darius. He was to attend a school outside the zone and uncover the thoughts of the students and their parents while waiting for Delta to complete his part.

He smiled at the name. Rolo Lidmann. This would be fun.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Let me guess. First thought, 'Finally'. Second thought, 'We waited ages for this, why is it so short?'

Sorry that took so incredibly long to get out. Life got in the way. I'm in exam block now, so I have two weeks of that and then four weeks holidays for the semester break. Good news, expect weekly updates during the holidays. Bad news, don't expect any updates until the holidays. I need to pass all my subjects or else I add another six months to my degree (which is already six years long). In other words, writing probably won't happen too much after holidays either. I'll try and keep up my promise from last time (1-2 updates every month), but it really depends on my workload. If you really want to know how things are going, I'm putting little status things on my profile page now.

The reason this one was kind of short (compared to the last chapter anyway), was because I'm having fun playing around with the next chapter and needed the leeway to change stuff.

Please remember that I write things out by hand first, and then edit the shit out of them while typing them up, so it takes some time to write also means that I try to be as correct as possible, but there will always be mistakes. Let me know about any typos or unclear things and I'll fix it (it's part of my degree to it helps me too!)

Let me know what you think and thanks to everyone that has this on their favourite/alert list. Makes me happy when I get emails telling me that :)

~Kasai


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Code Geass. Don't sue me.

* * *

><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 9

Kallen sat on the benches in the school grounds, eating her lunch with a group of people she wasn't really sure she could call friends.

"It's good to see that you're back at school more often now, Kallen."

They were the type of friends the Stadtfeld heiress was expected to have. Each of them was from some sort of nobility.

"Yeah, we were hoping it wasn't just going to be a lull before the storm kind of thing."

She glanced around at them, her distaste hidden carefully behind a veil of pleasant meekness as they continued talking.

"But even your hair seems to have more life in it!"

At that, Kallen stopped nibbling on her sandwich and actually looked at the people she was with. She'd decided not to straighten her hair this morning, and leave it in its natural state. Of course, Lady Stadtfeld disapproved, but she'd only noticed as Kallen ran out the door, leaving no time to change it. These nobles appeared to prefer her natural look though. It raised her opinions of them slightly.

"I think your hair looks really nice like that, Kallen. It makes you look stronger, like someone who could run your father's company."

That comment had come from Zachary Raynberde. His father ran a large company, but unlike Lord Stadtfeld, the Raynberde's company was based in Area 11. Both Lord Stadtfeld and Lord Raynberde were looking at a merger, but couldn't quite come to an agreement. Zachary had been trying to court her for some time. He wasn't unappealing, with deep green eyes, wavy blonde hair and pleasant features, but Kallen just didn't find him attractive. She also wasn't sure whether his advances were genuine, or something his father had put him up to.

"Thank you, Zachary," she replied.

She wondered briefly whether the Raynberde's knew about her mixed heritage, but the thought soon ticked over to whether Zachary's father may have had something to do with the attack in the SAZ. He would certainly have the motives. Kallen was fairly certain his labourers were all underpaid Elevens. With the SAZ offering employment with proper payment, he was sure to be losing workers. But how to ask about it? They surely wouldn't talk to her, knowing her closeness with Princess Euphemia, but they might talk to Lady Stadtfeld. No matter how close Kallen got to royalty, Lady Stadtfeld would never approve of numbers having rights. But then again, even if they did speak to the Lady, getting her to tell Kallen what they said would be more impossible than having them tell her themselves. If only she could listen in on their conversation somehow… Her inner light bulb flicked on.

"Hey guys," Kallen started, interrupting whatever topic they had moved on to. "I was thinking, since I'm definitely feeling better now, that you might all be able to for brunch or afternoon tea at my house on the weekend. Only if you want to of course," she added, "and you're not busy."

Clara Stedermann was the first to speak up. "I'd love to Kallen! I don't think any of us have ever been to your house before, since you were always sick. I'll have to ask my parents, but I'm sure they'd be thrilled."

Zachary also agreed without hesitation, and the rest followed suit.

The lunch bell rang just as conversation about what Kallen thought the girls should wear started. She hurriedly packed up her things, realising that her class was on the other side of school.

"Sorry, I've got English in D block, but I'll let you know tomorrow what time it'll be on." She turned and hurried back inside the school. "See you tomorrow!"

* * *

><p>Kallen braced herself as she walked up to the front porch. For this plan to work, she had to act like nobility from the moment she stepped onto the welcome mat. The door opened just as she did so, the maid obviously waiting for her. Kallen handed over her bag to the woman and removed her shoes.<p>

"Take that up to my room," she ordered.

It was only after the maid had left that Kallen realised she should have asked where Lady Stadtfeld was. It wouldn't do to be seen looking around the manor for her. Taking a guess, Kallen walked towards the dining room. They'd recently hired a new maid to replace her mother, and Lady Stadtfeld loved criticising how they cleaning each room. The dining room was her favourite, as there were so many pieces of silver to shine and surfaces to keep spotless that it was almost impossible to do perfectly. Her guess had been right. Lady Stadtfeld sat on one of the chairs with a smirk on her face, watching the young girl try to reach places that were too high for her.

"Mother," Kallen said, keeping the bitterness in her mouth out of her voice.

Lady Stadtfeld turned to look at her, keeping her eyes on the maid and saying nothing.

"I was wondering if it would be alright to have some friends over for a brunch or afternoon tea on Saturday."

"Which friends?" the Lady replied.

"Not my club friends. I asked Ashleigh Birchmier, Lisa Massarotti, Clara Stedermann and Zachary Raynberde. Matthew Ayliffe was away today, but I imagine he'll come along as well."

The name-dropping had worked. She now had her step-mother's full attention.

"Raynberde and Birchmier you say? Why, I'm sure we can do better than some little afternoon tea. We'll organise a dinner party for them. Their parents are welcome along too of course. I'll have Sophie make up invitations tonight for you to hand to them tomorrow."

Lady Stadtfeld completely forgot about watching the new girl as she bustled off to find the head maid, Sophie. Kallen smiled to herself. It had been far easier than she anticipated. She hadn't even needed to suggest the dinner party or anything to do with their parents. Now all she needed was a way to listen in.

* * *

><p>"Suzaku."<p>

The student council meeting had just finished, and it was only Kallen and Suzaku left in the room.

He looked over to her quickly, still gathering his belongings.

"What is it Kallen?" he asked. "I need to get to work."

"I need you to tell Zero something for me."

Suzaku stopped and looked at her. "You really should stop working with him you know. You don't even know who he is."

Kallen bristled. "What does that matter? I trust him. And what I'm doing isn't dangerous. In fact, it's helping you and Euphemia, so it's in your interests to assist me."

He sighed. "What did you need me to pass on then?"

"Tell him I may have found something, but require assistance, and if he could contact me that would be great," she replied.

"Why don't you just come to work with me and tell him yourself when he gets there?"

Kallen gave him a look. "I have nothing to wear."

"You've got your uniform, just go in that."

The glare Suzaku received was enough for him to know it was a bad suggestion.

"I'm nobility; I can't be seen walking around with Princess Euphemia in my school uniform. It'd be scandalous."

"Okay, okay," he relented. "I'll pass your message on."

Kallen smiled. "Thank you, Suzaku."

He waved briefly in acknowledgment as he rushed out of the room.

Kallen took her time in collecting her things before heading down to the front gates of the school, where a car was waiting for her. She'd told Lady Stadtfeld that she'd been so anxious about asking her permission for the tea party that the school council meeting had completely slipped her mind. In reality, Kallen had needed to make sure her dinner party plan would work before she could ask for help from Zero. If he obliged, she would have four days to get what she needed and set it up. The parents coming to the dinner party had connections in virtually every area of the nobility. If any of them knew anything, after a few drinks they were bound to let it slip as an attempt at bragging.

* * *

><p>Suzaku strode into the main office building of the SAZ, waving at the receptionists. It was still a little strange for him to see the four people work so well together. When hiring the management staff, it had been a suggestion by Euphemia to make sure there was at least one Britannian and one Japanese working at reception at all times. Suzaku had thought that it was to demonstrate the equal opportunities the SAZ represented, and was going to protest. It would not be good for the governing facility to hire people just for show. But Euphemia had surprised him. She had said it was so that anyone could walk in and ask questions, despite their spoken language. Just because she couldn't speak Japanese, doesn't mean the establishment should be run in Britannian. After all, Zero was perfectly fluent in the native language.<p>

Zero… He didn't understand how Kallen could have so much trust in someone she didn't know. The man said he wasn't Japanese, but to have as much knowledge about the country and its customs as he did meant that he had to have been here before the invasion. The most common foreigners before the invasion were Britannians, but Zero's dislike of the Britannian military and its royals cast a shadow of doubt on that line of thought. The only Britannian Suzaku had ever met that hated the nobility and royalty was Lelouch, but it couldn't possibly be him, could it? Lelouch was certainly smart enough to have come up the Zero's strategies, but that was also one of the reasons Suzaku held on to as a disproof. Lelouch was incredibly intelligent. He would be able to think of better ways to change Britannia than the way Zero and the Black Knights had gone about it.

Suzaku was bought out of his thoughts as the elevator dinged, signalling he had arrived at his desired floor. He stepped out and composed himself. It was not the time to be dwelling on such things. He would relay Kallen's message to Zero when he saw him, but would otherwise put the man out of his mind. He had work to focus on. Suzaku smiled a little at the thought. He was the luckiest person alive to have work consist of spending the afternoon with Euphie.

* * *

><p>Kallen almost jumped out of her skin when her phone rang at a little past nine o'clock that night. She had no idea what hours Zero worked, and so had been waiting for a call ever since she returned home. She waited for hours before deciding that watching her phone wasn't going to make it ring, and so began the tedious task of homework in an attempt to make time go faster. Apparently all it had done was cause her to fall asleep. She thanks whatever gods existed that it wasn't a video call as she picked up.<p>

"Hello?" she answered.

"Suzaku relayed your message," said the voice from the other end.

"Zero-sama." Kallen almost sighed. If she had a choice she would have preferred to not speak at all. His voice sounded so pleasant to her ears that she didn't want to ruin it with her own harsh tones.

Zero spoke again after the brief pause. "What is it that you require assistance for?"

Kallen blushed, realising she had zoned out for a moment. "I convinced Lady Stadtfeld to hold a dinner party on Saturday night, and there will be high profile nobility in attendance. The chance that any of the nobility will inform me if they had a part of the SAZ attack is very slim due to my connections with Euphemia, but they will be more than willing to talk about it to each other or even Lady Stadtfeld. I thought that I could place bugs around the house to record the conversations, and then filter through and see if anything useful came up."

"I'm impressed, Kallen," said Zero. "You've done well to set this up. I take it you require my help to attain the recording devices?"

Her chest swelled at the compliment. "Yes sir. I estimate I'll need about 10 of them. The guests shouldn't be in more than five rooms."

"Consider it done," he responded. "If you arrange a meeting with Euphemia they'll be ready for collection from my office by tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you Zero-sama," Kallen said.

"Keep up the good work, Kallen," Zero said before hanging up.

She looked at the phone in her hand, trying to keep the way her name sounded when Zero said it in her mind. What she wouldn't do to have him say it more often, or in a different way… But she couldn't afford to think like that at the moment. She had to plan where the bugs were going to go so that they would be able to record all conversations while not being seen. Kallen sighed as she walked out of her room. Time to go talk to Lady Stadtfeld again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Ok, now it's done. I had more I wanted to add to this, but didn't like it so just cut it out. Sorry about all the edits.

If you go check my profile, you'll see that I'm no longer even going to try to keep an updating schedule. Life is hectic and I kind of suck at keeping to them anyway. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed the last two chapters :) Sorry I haven't done replies to them, but I can't remember who said what for which chapter...

Thanks for reading!

~Kasai


	10. Chapter 10

Kallen woke on Sunday morning irritable and exhausted. She'd spent the entire night either entertaining the stuck up nobles or having to listen to their children gossip. It had gotten to a point (after they had all consumed a rather large amount of wine) where they were considering which _commoners_ would make good husbands or wives. Clara had even dared to suggest that she and Lelouch would make a good couple. The other girls quickly agreed, saying he was handsome, smart and could even hold himself like nobility; a perfect match for her. Kallen had quickly shot the suggestion down of course, but they continued with the idea for most of the night.

Only after all the guests had left and her mother had gone to bed was she able to collect the recording devices. Now she had to spend the whole day going over each of them to check if anything remotely valuable had been discussed. If it weren't for Zero, she wouldn't even consider doing it today. However, she wanted to impress the man and hopefully give him some useful information, so after her morning routine Kallen shut herself in her room with the excuse of homework and began her tedious task.

* * *

><p>Milly had found out that a transfer student would be starting at Ashford sometime next week, and so was planning a welcoming party for him. It would only be a small one held in the student council room, but the president was still demanding cake, balloons, punch, and whatever else she could manage to get her hands on. Shirley, being her naturally kind and helpful self, volunteered to go shopping for any supplies that couldn't be found around the clubhouse, which had ended up with Lelouch being almost ordered to help her with the task. Milly had pulled him aside as said it was a good chance for them to 'kiss and make up', as the little feud between them had been going on for far too long.<p>

And so, Lelouch had found himself in the very awkward situation of shopping with Shirley. He had avoided close contact with her ever since the incident with Mao, but he wouldn't have minded this trip with her so much if every now and then she didn't ask questions that she should already know the answer to. It reminded him of all the pain he'd put her through. It reminded him that he had killed her father. It reminded him that he'd driven her to shoot another person. It reminded him that he really wasn't worthy of her kindness and admiration. She had such a good soul and he'd tainted it. He'd thought that by making her forget him, she could lead a better life without him in it. She would be free of the darkness that was his vengeance, and would be happy with other people. She would find a loving boyfriend, get a good job, get married, have children…

"Lelouch!" Shirley said loudly into his face.

Lelouch snapped back to reality and offered a small smile.

"I'm sorry Shirley, what were you saying?"

She huffed. "Geez, that was the third time I'd said your name. I was asking which balloons you think we should get. I like these ones, but I don't know if the new student is a boy or a girl, so they might be a bit too pink…"

"Why not just get a selection of each?" he suggested. "I'm sure the president won't mind."

"Hmm… That's a good idea. Excuse me!" she called, flagging down one of the assistants.

As Shirley finalised the order, Lelouch looked out the window of the little store they were in. It was a relatively new shopping complex, with a lot of up-to-date stores and little cafes; the perfect places for teenagers to come and relax. Which was why he found it strange that a blonde girl who looked suspiciously like Milly was crowded behind a bush with a blue haired boy he would bet his life was Rivalz. Why would they be hiding behind a bush? He narrowed his eyes and turned his head towards them. Sure enough, they both ducked out of sight fast as possible. He sighed and turned back to Shirley as she thanked the clerk. Milly and Rivalz were spying on them. This was going to be an interesting shopping trip.

* * *

><p>Shirley looked at the boy to her left out of the corner of her eye as they walked. He was a strange one. Apparently they'd been in the same classes for years, but she was sure that she'd never met him before that time at the memorial. He was even in the Student Council with her! How could she not have know who the vice president was? He did miss a lot of school though, and made sure to keep a low profile wherever he went. It was like he was hiding from people. Giving him a closer look, Shirley guessed he was probably trying to hide from the girls of the school. He was very attractive, tall and dark with his aristocratic features, and hair that swept across the most amazing violet coloured irises she'd ever seen. And since she'd gotten to know him over the past few months, she realised he wasn't just attractive in his looks. He was incredibly smart, even if he didn't apply himself to school, and he was always helping the president with her crazy schemes. And she'd seen how much he loved his little sister, and how he didn't seem the care that Suzaku was an Honorary Britannian or a Knight of Honour. He treated everyone the same unless they'd done something that required they be treated differently. She'd even seen him sticking up for an Eleven on the street once. He was definitely strange, but really quite incredible.<p>

"Hey Shirley" Lelouch said quietly.

She snapped out of her day dream and turned her head towards the boy, only to discover he'd leaned over to talk to her. Both blushed and straightened up to put more distance between their faces than the three centimetres that had been there. They looked at each other, both opening their mouths to speak and stopped when they realised the other was about to talk. It happened again and they both gave a little laugh.

"I'm sorry," said Shirley through a giggle. "What were you going to say?"

"Ah, I was just wondering if you'd noticed that Milly and Rivalz are spying on us," he replied a little more evenly.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she looked behind her. "Really?" she asked.

He leaned close again. "Yeah, they've been tailing us all day in disguises. They're walking about 20m behind us, pretending to look some displays."

Shirley turned her head only slightly this time, looking at where Lelouch had said. Sure enough, a blonde girl and blue haired boy looked engrossed in a pretty display of hats and fascinators.

"Should we try and lose them?" she asked.

Lelouch smiled. "Sounds like fun."

* * *

><p>A young boy of maybe sixteen walked alone along the streets. The sun had set not long ago, and he needed to get home. He carried a folded piece of paper in one hand and a phone in the other. He scrolled through something on the screen, completely oblivious to his surroundings. Two men hid in an alleyway just ahead of him. They'd been following the boy for the last four blocks, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. He was wearing expensive clothes, and had a wallet and camera in his back pockets as well as the upmarket phone in his hand. The perfect target.<p>

Just as the boy walked past, one of the men grabbed his hand and pulled him into the alley, knocking him to the ground.

"Now," he said, in a low, threatening tone, "what is a young man like yourself doing walking these streets alone at night? You should know better."

The boy merely looked at his attacker, rose to his feet and dusted himself off. It infuriated the older man. He pulled out a knife from inside his pants.

"If you just give me everything you've got, I'll let you go and won't have to use this."

Still, the boy said nothing. The older man grit his teeth and motioned with his head. His partner quickly moved in and put the boy in a choke hold with another knife to his throat.

"We'll give you one last chance kid," the second one said into the boy's ear. "It doesn't matter to us whether you're dead or alive. We'll get your things either way."

Just as the man had finished speaking he felt pain in his stomach. Looking down, he saw that the knife he'd been holding to the teen's neck was planted firmly in his abdomen. As he dropped to the ground, he noticed his partner's knife sticking out of the man's chest. And before his world blackened forever, he saw the teen light a bloodied towel on fire, drop it, and walk away without a second look.

Neither would ever know what a mistake it had been to attack the boy now known as Rolo Lidmann.

* * *

><p>Kallen groaned in frustration as the clock ticked over to 11pm. She had been through all of the recordings at least twice and found almost nothing. Only three of the ten devices had picked up conversation about the SAZ bombings, and only one of those had anything remotely useful in it. It had been a conversation between Lady Stadtfeld, Lord Raynberde, Lord Birchmier and Lady Ayliffe. While each had at some point in the evening discreetly displayed their dislike for the Zone, none had any idea who had orchestrated the attack. The topic of conversation had lasted nearly 15 minutes, with Lord Raynberde even declaring that no matter how much a noble disliked the area Princess Euphemia had set up, it was far too barbaric to have been planned by someone of such high class. Lady Ayliffe, who had made her husband powerful by buying out other companies through under the table dealings, agreed entirely. She had said that if a noble wanted the area disbanded they would have attacked the princess herself in a much neater manner, such as finding out things about her relationship with her Knight, or Zero. Kallen had seethed at that remark, and needed to reply the next part of the conversation a few times before she actually heard what was being said. They then went on about how if they could find anyone with information they might gain the Vicereine's favour and have some sway in future policies. It was at that point she'd decided that the Britannians had not planted the bombs.<p>

While it narrowed down the list of suspects, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth. She'd been so sure that the Japanese wouldn't attack an area that could have done so much good. Their own people were in there, living as Japanese and working with properly paid jobs, and they'd still attacked the place (Kallen highly doubted Honorary Britannians were the perpetrators). She clenched her fist in rage. When her contacts found out who had been behind the attacks – and they would – they would face the wrath of the Black Knights. They would not get away with attempting to harm a civilian area populated by innocents. She would make sure of it.

* * *

><p>Lelouch sighed as he rolled over in his bed, trying to get to sleep. His day with Shirley had been pleasant after they'd lost their trackers. The pair had walked into a movie theatre, and predictably Milly and Rivalz had followed. It wasn't hard to sneak out once the cinema had darkened, and he and Shirley dropped their purchases off at the clubhouse and spent the afternoon wandering the city. They'd talked, and he found himself enjoying her company. The day had somehow ended with them agreeing to actually watch a movie together next time, which is what was causing Lelouch to rack his brains now.<p>

He'd erased her memory of him because she would have been so much better off without him. But for some reason he just couldn't stay away. He resolved to ask Suzaku tomorrow. With any luck, his friend would have some answers.

* * *

><p>Romeo was tucked tightly into his bed. A bag on his floor was full of books, stationery, and all the papers he would need for his first day at school tomorrow, each labelled with his new name. On the corner on his desk was a map of the Ashford Academy grounds laid out flat. He'd memorised it as soon as he got home. It wouldn't be good for someone to notice Rolo Lidmann's brand new map had blood spatterings on the back.<p>

* * *

><p>AN:

Help us all, I actually got it done on time. It's only 2100 words, but better than nothing right? At least now I can move on to more exciting things in the next chapters. Hopefully it won't take another two months...

Thanks to everyone who's still reading this. Makes me happy to know people like my work even though I'm a horrible person who doesn't update anywhere near frequently enough.

In the mean time, if you haven't already, go through my favourite stories list. They are all fantastic reads and are incredbly well written (says me anyway). I'm also not sure if you've read my profile (I don't even remember if I put it up there), but I'm Beta for Allora Gale's Weapons of Mass Destruction. It's a great story, so go read it, along with everything else she writes. She's a very talented author :)

P.S. I love you all! I just realised I have 100 followers for this story :D I'll try get another update done by the end of October for you all as a thanks - try being the key word.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't get paid for this. If I did I'd actually have a fridge.

**A/N:** No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. This is an actual update. And it's 5100 words to boot (not including this bit or the A/N down the bottom). Hopefully it partially makes up for the lack of activity over the past four months…

* * *

><p><strong>A Change in Policies<strong>

Chapter 11

Romeo had researched everything he could for this mission before he left the homeland. It was different to most other assignments he'd been given, as his geass made him particularly useful for assassination. A reconnaissance mission required people skills, and the ability to manipulate conversations without arousing suspicion. But that wasn't all he'd had to research. Although he was almost sixteen, Romeo had never attended a proper school. In fact, he'd never been around people his own age for more than a couple hours at a time, and even then they were other members of the order; not exactly normal teenagers. However, Rolo Lidmann was a transfer from a school in Britannia. He was a perfectly normal teenager with a perfectly normal background. So Romeo had found as much literature as possible on Britannian high schools, high school students, and teenagers in general. He'd even resorted to reading comics and watching TV shows to try and pick up some of their habits. He spent hours upon hours practicing everything from appearance to knowledge to mannerisms. He thought by the time he started at Ashford Academy under the name Rolo Lidmann, he would fit in as well as any new student could be expected to. But nothing had prepared him for Milly Ashford.

The student council president looked relatively normal at first. With her blonde curls, large breasts, and friendly persona, Rolo figured she would be what was classified as 'popular'. From his research, it was the popular ones that had the most gossip, and were therefore his greatest source of information. Milly's position as student council president only made her more valuable to him. She would almost be required to be friendly to him, helping him with any problems he found or any questions he had. She should have been an easy source of information. And to start with, she was. The president had pounced on him almost as soon as he'd entered the school gates, introducing herself and a blue-haired boy as part of the student council. They'd both spent the morning showing him around campus, telling him about the school and the students. Things had seemed to be going well. What Rolo hadn't expected was how very in control of everything she was. Milly almost ran the school, and she had every one of the students under her thumb. Whatever Milly decided to plan, happened. And that was how Rolo had found himself in the Student Council room at lunch, covered in streamers and confetti. Milly had wanted a party in his honour to welcome him to the school, and a party she got.

Rolo had tried plenty of times to escape, even just for a little bit. It had been his plan to introduce himself to as many students as possible, trying to get a read on who would be useful and who wouldn't. He also wasn't used to parties in the slightest. Even though there were only seven people present including himself, all the balloons, colours, cake, and music were making him nervous. He couldn't help wanting to leave. But Milly wouldn't have any of it. Each time he tried to leave, she skilfully caught him in conversation and guided him back into the centre of the room before he really became aware of it. After the fourth time she'd managed it, he decided to forget about his plans, put himself outside his comfort zone and stay in the room. It would be a good opportunity to see how the rest of the student council acted with each other, as well as study Milly's technique. She seemed to have perfected the very arts he needed to know.

* * *

><p>Lelouch stood outside the door to the student council room. He was late for Milly's welcoming party, and was not particularly looking forward to what he'd be put through when he walked in. He'd contemplated not showing up at all and just spending the rest of his lunch break on the roof, but what Milly would do to him for showing up late was nothing compared to what she'd do if he didn't show up at all. He took a deep breath and opened to door slowly and quietly, trying to sneak in. The new boy was easy to spot. He looked incredibly uncomfortable, with a plastic cup in his hand and bits on confetti in his hair. Shirley was trying to engage him in conversation, but he was only half listening to her. His eyes kept drifting from her, to Suzaku, to Milly and then to the door. Lelouch moved slightly further into the room, slipping the door closed behind him. Now all he had to do was make his way over to Suzaku and—<p>

"Lelouch! You're finally here!" Milly said loudly, quickly making her way over to him and grabbing his arm.

All eyes were on him, most with looks of amusement—although some, like Nina, with a bit of pity—as she dragged him over to Shirley and the new student.

"Sorry to interrupt Shirley," she said once they'd reached the pair. "I just wanted to introduce Rolo to our vice-president, since he's finally decided to grace us with him presence." A mock glare in Lelouch's direction proved she wasn't really all that annoyed.

"Rolo, this is the student council's vice-president, Lelouch Lamperouge. Lelouch, this is the new student, Rolo Lidmann. He was accelerated back in the homeland so he's a year below you, but I still expect you to help him if he needs it."

Lelouch looked at him. Rolo was a fairly common Britannian name. This boy seemed anything but common. Although he appeared to be nervous and shy, Rolo was very discreetly studying his surroundings when he thought Lelouch wasn't looking. He was gathering all the information he could on his classmates and categorising it. He also clearly had training in at least one form of self defence if his stance was anything to go by. It was relaxed with feet apart, the right one a little bit further back than the left. Lelouch flicked his eyes to Suzaku. His friend was carefully watching the interactions the new boy made. Good, Lelouch thought. If Suzaku had picked up on the discrepancies in the boy's behaviour as well, it meant he wasn't just being paranoid. There was something not quite right about Rolo Lidmann.

* * *

><p>"So," Lelouch said to Suzaku, "what do you think of him?"<p>

The boys had volunteered to stay behind after lunch to clean up the student council room. They were skipping class to do it, but for once Suzaku didn't mind.

"Rolo?" Suzaku clarified. "I haven't decided yet. His actions don't match up to expectations, but I'm not sure if that's just me being prejudice."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Suzaku frowned a little bit. "When he first saw me, it was like I was just another student. He didn't even flinch. I thought, being from Pendragon, he would have had more of a reaction to seeing an Eleven at a school like this, even if I am an Honorary Britannian."

"He may have been raised on a different set of values," Lelouch said, though he silently agreed with Suzaku.

No one from Pendragon would have any sympathy towards the numbers. The emperor drilled social Darwinism into his country; with the capital as the starting point, its entire population should look at Suzaku like he was dirt, if not worse.

"Even if that was true, he _bowed_ to me when Milly introduced us. My station isn't high enough to require that from a civilian. I've never met a Britannian who willingly salutes to me when their superiors aren't watching, let alone anything more."

It was Lelouch's turn to frown now. That little piece of information was certainly interesting. No Britannian child from Pendragon would have been taught to bow to a number, even if they were a Knight of Honour. Most non-noble children wouldn't even know how to bow to a Knight; they'd probably never meet one, so why bother? But from Suzaku's lack of comment, he assumed the boy had bowed perfectly. Had he been raised in close proximity to the Royal Palace? But no—he would have scorned Suzaku if he had. Unless he was acting. Lelouch's mind was working quickly. A spy? That was certainly possible. But what was he spying on? And who sent him? He can't have been there to watch Suzaku, could he? He didn't for one second put it past the emperor to utilise children in his arsenal, but emperor wasn't stupid. He would have been better off sending someone Suzaku's age so they were in the same classes. Was it just coincidence then? No, Lelouch didn't believe in coincidences. And sending a child to a different country alone would raise—

"Suzaku, what was it Rolo said his parents were doing here?"

"It's just him and his father, apparently, and his dad is a media man. Said he was here to start a new branch in the SAZ for the company he works for."

So they were probably here on orders from the emperor to keep an eye on Euphemia. Possibly remove her if she went too far. But he couldn't start theorising yet. He still needed more data.

* * *

><p>Zero strode into his office earlier than usual to find C.C. lounging on his desk with a box of pizza and a book of some kind.<p>

"Move," he said, none too kindly.

C.C. gave him a look before languidly rolling off the desk and padding over to the lounge chair.

"What's got you in such a bad mod?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied, dropping into position behind his desk. "I still need more data."

She watched quietly as the boy rummaged through papers and computer files, before setting a few on his desk and dialling a number on his phone.

"Hello, this is Diethard Reid."

Beneath his mask, Zero smiled. "Are you in a safe place?"

There was a scuffling sound from the other end, followed by a muffled shout of 'don't bother me!' and the slam of a door before the other man replied.

"I am now in a location where we will not be overheard."

"Excellent," said Zero. "I have a task for you. A man with the last name of Lidmann has just moved from the Britannian homeland to Area 11, and plans to set up an extension of a Britannian media company within the SAZ. I need you to dig anything you can about him. If you can, get to know him. See if his story matches up with what you find."

"Of course. When should I present my work?"

"I'll have an access card arranged for you. Come pick it up after dark tonight, and then present your reports when you feel you have something of interest," Zero said, before hanging up.

On the other side of the line, Diethard was suppressing his joy. He finally had something more interesting to report on than the mundane affairs of robberies and EU negotiations. For his target to have come under Zero's radar, he must have been an interesting man indeed. Diethard was thoroughly looking forward to finding out who this 'Lidmann' character was.

* * *

><p>Kallen sat in the back of one of the more discreet royal cars, fidgeting. She was dressed in some of her 'casual' noble-wear, and it made her incredibly uncomfortable. However, her cover for visiting Princess Euphemia at her office in the SAZ was that they were going out for dinner as soon as the princess finished work for the day. Dinner was actually in the plans, and they were going out for it, but Kallen's main purpose for visiting the SAZ was to report her findings to Zero in person. If he hadn't arrived by the time they needed to leave, then Kallen would present her information to Euphemia instead. While she mostly wanted to present her findings to Zero to hear what he had to say, a small part of her wanted him there for another reason. She was almost certain Zero had never seen her dressed as she was—as nobility, even if this was classified as casual-wear. And while she hated the nobility, hated everything they did and stood for, she knew that when she dressed to their standards, she was pretty. Stunning, some had even called her. It was a surprise that her father hadn't tried to marry her off given how many suitors were chasing her. He hadn't even allowed her step-mother to arrange any blind dates for her, like Milly's did. Kallen hoped, in some tiny section of her brain, that Zero would see her like those men did. That he would want her as more than just a comrade.<p>

She shook her head as the car pulled up to the building. Now was not the time for those types of thoughts. Perhaps if Euphemia ever held a ball… Kallen wrinkled her nose in disgust at herself. Balls were something for the nobility, not the people of the SAZ.

Kallen was lost in thought again as she walked through the automatic doors, straight into the back another person.

"Oh," she exclaimed in surprise. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I—"

"Kouzuki?" the person cut her off as he turned around.

"Diethard?" Kallen blinked at the blonde man in front of her. It was indeed the reporter. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," he replied.

"I have business with—"

"Mr. Reid?" a receptionist called. Kallen frowned at being cut off again. "Your access passed has been authorised. Would you like me to show you the way?"

The mention of an access pass piqued Kallen's interest. There were only two people who could authorise a pass inside this building, and given the man's history…

"It's alright," she said before Diethard could reply. "I'll show him the way."

"Oh, thank you Miss Stadtfeld," said the receptionist, handing the blonde his swipe card before returning to her desk.

Diethard raised an eyebrow, but didn't saying anything in objection as Kallen led him to the elevators.

"You appear to have a free pass in this place," he noted once they began ascending.

"Being me is useful sometimes," she responded cryptically. She would not possibly jeopardise her position by telling Diethard why she could come and go as she pleased. Not unless Zero approved it.

Elevator music filtered softly through the speakers for a time before Kallen spoke again.

"I assume you're here to see Zero?"

'"Of course," Diethard responded. "I assumed you were called in for the same reason I was."

"I wasn't called in at all." Kallen scrunched her nose. Zero had never called her in. "I'm having dinner with Euphemia after she finishes work."

"Oh? I wasn't aware you were on social terms with royalty."

"The Stadtfeld's have always been high up on the nobility ladder," she answered. The elevator chimed to announce their arrival at the correct floor, preventing Diethard from questioning her further.

She stepped out and walked down the halls, leading the Britannian towards Zero's office. If she'd been walking to Euphie's office, most of the cubicles and other offices would have been empty, the workers having left at least an hour prior to head home. However, as Zero worked the night shift, so did the staff directly under him. There were only one or two empty seats at each station, and most of those who filled them could be found in the kitchen making coffee or food. Kallen found it interesting that most of Zero's staff were young. Some of them barely looked old enough to have completed high school, let alone the university degree that she was sure one had to have to work here. And the range of people! They mostly consisted of Britannians and Japanese, but every so often she spotted someone who looked Chinese, and even a couple who looked like they came from the EU. As she looked back she could see Diethard trying to hide his surprise as well. That Zero and Euphemia had managed to gather so many people of different ethnicities and backgrounds, and have them working together efficiently and cooperatively on a day to day basis was incredible.

Kallen knew when they'd reached Zero's office even though she had never stepped inside before. It looked exactly the same as Euphemia's. The door and walls facing the corridor were one-way mirrors, allowing Zero to see who was outside while preventing people from looking in. She had no doubt that his office ran half the length of the building, and that at the end of it would be his own personal bathroom. When she knocked on the door she was surprised by one thing though. It was C.C. who opened it.

She looked Kallen up and down before flicking her gaze to Diethard.

Looking back at Kallen, she said "Zero wasn't expecting you, but apparently you're welcome anyway. He's out at the moment, so feel free to make yourselves comfortable."

C.C. pushed the door open further then retreated inside, Kallen and Diethard following.

The office was almost an exact mirror image of Euphemia's, with only one difference being immediately recognisable. Where a plush storage bench sat for Suzaku in Euphie's office, a second large, mahogany desk replaced it in Zero's. It was behind this desk and into a padded leather office chair that C.C. sank, lounging sideways so that her legs hung over one arm. Kallen made her way towards one of the chairs situated in front of the other desk. Diethard chose to look around instead.

After ten minutes of waiting, Kallen was tempted to just go to Euphemia instead. Even if she was busy, Suzaku was there to talk to. All her attempts at starting conversation with C.C. had been rebuffed, and Diethard was buried in one of the books he'd pulled off the shelves. And it's not like Zero would notice what she was wearing anyway. She sighed and made to stand up, only to notice a flutter out of the corner of her eye. It was Zero. She could see him through the observation mirror walking down the hallway. He wasn't alone though. Strangely enough, walking by his side was Suzaku. What made it stranger still was that there was no sign of Euphemia anywhere. For the Knight to leave his princess was exceedingly rare. Kallen kept her seat as they opened the door and stepped through.

"Euphemia will be with us shortly. She still has some permits to finish reading," Zero said as he made his way to his desk. He opened a locked drawer and took out of folder. "Diethard, this is all the information I can gather on Lidmann through discreet methods. Suzaku possibly has more information for you though."

Suzaku hadn't moved from the doorway. He'd been staring at Kallen in slight shock since he'd first seen her. She wasn't sure if it was because of her presence in the room or because of what she was wearing. She didn't really care. The name Lidmann was tickling her memory…

"Zero," Suzaku said through gritted teeth. "You didn't tell me Kallen would be here for this. I'd prefer it if she didn't get involved."

Kallen bristled. If it was Zero's business, then why shouldn't she get involved? Suzaku had no right to deny her that. Even though she no longer saw him every day, Kallen was still the captain of the Zero Squad. She was one of Zero's best people. She _deserved_ to know.

"Two sets of eyes are always better than one, particularly when you're here almost more days than you are at school," Zero defended. "And I trust Kallen. She can give reliable information from a different perspective. She and Diethard can also easily get in contact with each other and with me. It makes sense to have her at least aware of the situation."

Suzaku frowned and Kallen stared in bewilderment. What did Suzaku being at school have anything to do with it?

"I don't understand," she voiced. "I mean, I'm incredibly honoured that you speak so highly of me Zero, but what is this about?"

"Zero thinks that someone may have set spies or assassins on him, myself and Euphemia," Suzaku explained, his frown still present. "He got information that leads to that conclusion, anyway. But we're not sure. A man named Lidmann recently moved here from the Britannian homeland to expand the media company he works for. But there's no evidence of anyone else from the company coming along. He only brought his son with him."

It was like a lightbulb had flashed on inside Kallen's mind. It illuminated a younger, brown-haired boy looking severely uncomfortable in the student council room. The new transfer student.

"Rolo!" she exclaimed.

Suzaku nodded. "He seemed a bit odd to me today, and when Zero was discussing the other Lidmann with Euphie I thought to mention it."

"Fascinating as this is," Diethard interrupted, "I fail to see what the boy has to do with me. The father I can find information on easy enough, given how the media companies work, but why does a teenager need my attention?"

It was Zero who spoke this time. "It's not so much the boy himself, but how he acts in comparison to how he should. We aren't 100% sure that they are father and son. I was going to have Suzaku feed me information on him and compare it to your information on the Lidmanns, but it will be easier and safer to have Kallen do it instead."

"Because if he's a spy or assassin he won't be watching her," Diethard calculated. "And by having Kallen's information and comparing it to what I can dig up on the father, and what I can get from him about the boy, we should be able to determine if their purpose here is really as benign as it seems."

Zero nodded.

Diethard was deep in thought for a moment before he nodded to himself. He walked over to Zero's desk and took the folder that had been offered to him earlier.

"Right," he said. "If that's all I'm required for then I'll take my leave. I'll come and report when I find something interesting."

* * *

><p>Euphemia hurried down the hallway. Those silly permits had held her up, and then she'd had to get changed for dinner. She was sure she'd missed meeting Diethard Reid. Listening to Lelouch's account of him, the man seemed fascinating. He had a mind almost as sharp at Lelouch's, and virtually no morals to hold him back from his work. She would have loved to meet him in person. Alas, by the time she got to Zero's office and opened the door, he was nowhere to be seen. She pouted a little on the inside.<p>

"Nice of you to join us Euphemia," said Zero.

She chose to ignore him in place of looking at Kallen instead. Wasn't this meant to be a casual dinner? She had only dressed in a casual day dress; a pretty thing similar in style to what she'd worn the day she met Suzaku. Kallen was wearing a loose, pale red dress that stopped just short of her knees. The thin straps were made of the same darker coloured lace that trimmed the sweetheart neckline and bottom edge of the dress. But it wasn't her clothes that made Euphemia feel underdressed. It was how she looked overall. The dress was cute, but she'd pinned up her hair in an elegant style so that she didn't appear too young, leaving strands to frame her face and accentuate her blue eyes. Her make-up, thought minimal, was expertly done. It gave her face a fresh, natural look while at the same time emphasising all her positive features. Euphie on the other hand hadn't bothered to redo her make-up, and had left her hair in the ponytail she'd had it in for work. She wondered quietly if she should go fix it before looking at Suzaku and deciding it was silly. Instead, she might as well capitalise on the situation in front of her.

"Kallen, you look wonderful!" she said excitedly, before looking over at Zero and Suzaku. She gave then a sneaky smile. "I do hope both of these boys have told you that."

Suzaku went to immediately agree with Euphemia that Kallen looked great, but blanched. Euphie giggled a little on the inside. She could see his thoughts crossing his face. Was he allowed to say another girl looked nice when she was there? Would it upset her? But she'd asked him too…

Finally, he replied with, "You do look nice tonight, Kallen. It's different from what you usually wear."

Kallen scowled at him. "Are you saying I don't look nice in what I usually wear?"

"No, that's not what I meant! You look nice normally, it's just you don't usually put in an effort—" Suzaku stammered, looking between Kallen and Euphie. "I mean—"

Euphie smiled. Suzaku had no clue when it came to women. She looked over at the other male in the room, raising an eyebrow at him while Suzaku tried to escape the hole he'd dug himself into. Zero turned his head towards her, face unreadable because of the mask. Euphemia inclined her head towards Kallen, indicating he should say something as well. Zero just continued looking at her. Even without being able to see his face, she knew what Lelouch was thinking. 'You want me to get myself into a situation like that? Please.' She frowned at him, and he finally dropped his shoulders.

"The colour suits you, Kallen," Zero said out loud, stopping her and Suzaku's escalating argument.

Kallen blushed and Suzaku gaped. Even C.C. looked a little surprised. Euphie just giggled. Leave it to Lelouch to know what to say.

"Pleasantries aside," he continued, "what was it you had to report Kallen? I assume you didn't escort Diethard to my office out of kindness."

Kallen straightened up again. "I came to report my findings on the nobility's involvement with the attack."

That's right, Euphie remembered. Kallen and Zero had told her that she was having a party with some nobles to try and get information.

"And?" Zero questioned. "What were your conclusions?"

Kallen sighed and looked down. "After going through the data, it is my opinion that no nobles had anything to do with the attack. I've bought the data from the recordings along if you would like it, but there was only one conversation of particular interest. What was said in it quite strongly implied none of the nobility were a part of it."

Euphie understood why Kallen down downhearted about this revelation. With the nobles taken out of the picture, it was almost certain that Japanese rebels were the perpetrators of the bombing. Kallen had been almost certain no Japanese person would have committed the crime. She had told Euphie so herself. That the Japanese would attack what was doing their own people so much good was not a pleasant thought.

Zero's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I expected as much," he said. "The nobility could have done a lot worse than bomb the place. All they need to do is discredit Euphemia or myself, and the entire establishment goes down in flames."

Kallen frowned. "They said something similar to that as well. Makes me think they'd like to try it if they got the chance."

Silence reigned for a few moments before Euphie clapped her hands.

"Enough of this depressing talk. Come on Kallen, let's go to dinner. We'll leave Zero and C.C. to their work."

She grabbed the red-haired girl's hands and pulled her from her seat before gently pushing her towards the door.

"Bye Zero! Bye C.C.! I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

><p>Euphemia collapsed on her bed as soon as she had changed into her nightclothes. Dinner had gone well. She felt that she had finally become friends with Kallen. That she was no longer someone the girl associated with purely because Zero told her to. They got on fairly well, and Euphie loved to hear about everything that happened at school—particularly the bits Suzaku wouldn't tell her. He always frowned when she began telling stories about the one-sided relationship between himself and Authur, or the fantastic costume Milly had him dress up in. She would always stop when it came to real gossip though. Girl talk, like boys, relationship and clothes, was apparently off-limits for the redhead. At least when Suzaku was around. And while that had Euphie intrigued (what could she not want him to know about?), it meant that their conversations inevitably turned back to work.<p>

This Reid person sounded interesting though. Lelouch had said that the man had come to the Black Knights of his own accord. He apparently wanted to document Zero change the world, and Lelouch had said that he was a valuable asset to have. When she asked Kallen, however, the girl's opinion of the man couldn't have been more different. Kallen's words only added to her curiosity about the reporter.

"It's like someone listed every negative stereotype of a Britannian then formed a person from that list," was what she'd said.

While they weren't in total opposition, the differences between Lelouch and Kallen's opinion of the man made her desperate to meet him. After all, if she could have a media outlet on her side (and a high ranking one at that) it would give her an ear into a whole new source of information. Euphemia began working out ways she could organise an introduction with this man. Maybe he could bring someone else from his company along with him. It did her no good to try and get someone Lelouch already had a claim to…

Little did she know that she would be meeting with him much sooner than expected, and for reasons much less pleasant than she imagined.

* * *

><p>Charles frowned and the piece of paper in front of him. One of his people had intercepted an email meant for his brother. He was not pleased to see what it contained. Snapping his fingers, the Emperor called a servant to him.<p>

"Call Bismarck. I have something to discuss with him."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Look! An update! I'm sorry it took so damn long. I have reasons, but it still basically comes down to me being incredibly lazy. I'd write like, one section a week, then decide I didn't like what I'd written and scrap the whole thing, then take just as long to type it out and edit it. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out sooner, considering all I have left of summer semester is my exam next Monday (and I may have already started writing it before I finished this one...)

Some side notes. I rewatched Code Geass up until the SAZ fiasco. Doing this (and a bit of general research), I realised a couple things. One was that Lelouch had already pretty much worked out that he loved Shirley once he'd erased her memories. I'm going to go back and edit the last chapter when I get a chance and fix the discrepancies. Two was that Rolo's last name is given as Haliburton. I'm not changing it, since Lidmann is just a persona he's taken on for the mission. And three was how much more disturbed Lelouch is when he kills someone he can put a face and a name to. I forgot just how bad he was after Clovis and Euphie. I'm going to try and work these into my sotry more.

Also, if anyone was interested, I've actually drawn up the floor plan on the office building Euphie and Zero work in. There are only three plans, since all the floors except the top floor and the lobby have the same layout. I tend to do a fair bit of research on everything I put in here (I think it's an engineering habit), so if you're ever interested in how something works or what it looks like etc, then just ask. Chances are I've planned it out and got a couple pages on it somewhere.

Thank you to Jager for sending me messages asking me how to story is progressing and to keep up with it. It's always nice to know even after months of inactivity, someone still likes my writing enough to tell me.

Misthafalls – that is possibly the longest review I have ever seen anyone write for anything – ever. It makes me smile lots :D Thank you! And I'll eventually get around to going through all my chapters and editing them again. But yes, that one should say brought, not bought.

Skylark360 – It puts me beyond belief that you've re-read my story that many times. Thank you so much. As for the Knightmare fights, I promise they _are_ coming. I just have a terrible habit of needed to make sure I have researched everything and that what happens in my story would actually be possible in the Geass world (as demonstrated with the building plan). There's still a couple of things that need to happen for Euphie to properly begin on her path to becoming empress, but they should all happen within the next five or so chapters.

Kaleydoscopeboy – Sorry it's taken me so long to post another chapter! Hopefully the amount of Euphemia in this one is more pleasing. I realised I started to focus on Lelouch a little too much, so I'll slowly transition it back to a Euphie-central fic.

To Ultimate Black Ace, Lordban, wolf191000, god of all, Myvampirepuppy and Captain-Overkill, thank you so much for reviewing : ) And to anyone in the past that I've missed replying to reviews for, I'll see if I can get back into it. If you've put in the effort to leave me a review the least I can do is thank you for it so you can see I read it.

Congrats to anyone who bothered to read through all of that. Your little bonus is knowing that my favourite character out of the whole series will be making their debut next chapter. I'm so excited to write them *squee*

Also, I'm contemplating trying to find a Beta. It'd just be to go through and pick up any grammatical errors, or point out if sentences don't make sense, but given how long it takes me to write something in the first place I'm not sure it's worth it. What do people think?


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